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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! General Petraeus' Fake War
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
General Petraeus' Fake War
How the Press and Congress Eagerly Swallowed It
EXCLUSIVE to subscribers in our latest newsletter, Gareth Porter dissects two years’ worth of successful lying by Gen Petraeus and his propaganda team. Guess what? The FBI AND DOJ didn’t specially target Muhammad Ali. Those G-men were just following normal procedures! Alexander Cockburn reviews the latest effort to “revise” the Sixties. Dick Cheney “didn’t understand the legalities.” James Abourezk describes his efforts to close down the lethal liquor operators that prey on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Whatever happened to the class war? Read Serge Halimi and find out. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories July 2, 2008 Brian Cloughley Robert Fantina July 1, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Mike Whitney Douglas Macgregor Steven Higgs Andy Worthington Binoy Kampmark Dave Lindorff Roger Burbach Richard W. Behan Gary Leupp Website of the Day June 30, 2008 Peter Lee Jeff Sommers David Macaray Martha Rosenberg David Price Alexandra Early June 28 / 29, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Joan P. Mencher Nikolas Kozloff Jason Hribal Alan Maass Robert Fantina Bill Moyers / Mike Whitney Justin E. H. Smith Pham Binh David Yearsley Christopher Ketcham Jeremy R. Hammond Kathleen M. Barry Walter Brasch Brett Drugge Susie Day Website of the Day June 27, 2008 Franklin C. Spinney Jonathan Cook Brian Cloughley Saree Makdisi Liliana Segura Paul Krassner William S. Lind Candace Cohn Ron Jacobs Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day June 26, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Nikolas Kozloff William P. O'Connor Saul Landau Ashley Smith Dave Lindorff David Macaray Binoy Kampmark Matt Reichel Remi Kenazi Website of the Day
June 25, 2008 David H. Price Stephen Soldz Andy Worthington Marjorie Cohn Joanne Mariner Ralph Nader Robert Weissman Christopher Brauchli Suren Pillay Seth Sandronsky Website of the Day June 24, 2008 Ishmael Reed P. Sainath Nikolas Kozloff Gregory Kafoury Betty Shamieh Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Bill Christison Philippe Marlière Website of the Day June 23, 2008 Michael Hudson John Ross Peter Montague Ramzy Baroud Robert Fantina Robert Weitzel David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Richard Rhames Gail Dines Tim Matson June 21 / 22, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Pam Martens Mike Whitney Chris Floyd Tim Wise Paul Craig Roberts Michael Winship Ron Jacobs Ramzy Baroud Alan Farago Michael Yates Dave Lindorff Bernard Chazelle Linda Mamoun Jo-Shing Yang Robert Jensen Website of the Weekend
June 20, 2008 Robert Oscar Lopez Paul Craig Roberts Bouthaina Shaaban Bill Quigley Moshe Adler Patrick Cockburn Andy Worthington Norman Solomon Martha Rosenberg June 19, 2008 Ralph Nader Chellis Glendinning Neve Gordon Dave Lindorff Sheldon Richman George Bisharat Jackie Corr Farzana Versey Website of the Day June 18, 2008 Nicole Colson Rev. William E. Alberts Vijay Prashad Parvez Ahmed Bob Moss Dave Lindorff David Wilson June 17, 2008 Conn Hallinan Wajahat Ali Marjorie Cohn Uri Avnery David Macaray Rannie Amiri Website of the Day June 16, 2008 Uri Avnery Corey D. B. Walker Howard Lisnoff Dennis Loo Paul Craig Roberts June 13 / 15, 2008 Douglas Valentine Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Peter Linebaugh Ishmael Reed Joe Bageant Harry Browne Andy Worthington Jeff Sharlet Binoy Kampmark Alan Farago Brian Cloughley Manuel Garcia, Jr. Reza Fiyouzat Patrick Bond / David Yearsley Niranjan Ramakrishnan Ronnie Cummins Dan Bacher Michael Dickinson Seth Sandronsky Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 12, 2008 Judith Levine Patrick Cockburn Saul Landau Christopher Brauchli Norman Solomon Helen Redmond Laura Carlsen Jeremy R. Hammond Anne Landman Website of the Day June 11, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Joshua Frank Clifton Ross Muhammad Idrees Ahmad Stephen Lendman Diane Farsetta Ron Jacobs Deborah Rich Hop Wechsler Website of the Day June 10, 2008 Alan Farago James G. Abourezk Saree Makdisi Malini Johar Schueller John Ross Wajahat Ali Peter Morici Jordan Flaherty Gary Macfarlane Joanne Mariner Website of the Day June 9, 2008 Uri Avnery Nikolas Kozloff Allan Nairn Dennis Loo Harry Browne C. Hand Peter Morici Kenneth Couesbouc Martha Rosenberg James L. Secor Website of the Day June 7 / 8, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Ishmael Reed Jeffrey St. Clair Nikolas Kozloff Dave Lindorff Robert Fantina Conn Hallinan Neve Gordon Tom Barry Patrick Irelan Tim Wise David Ker Thomson Joshua Frank David Yearsley James T. Phillips Joe Allen P. Sainath David Macaray B.R. Gowani Fred Gardner Peter Harley Michael Dickinson Jen Roesch Poets' Basement Website of the Day
June 6, 2008 Frank Barat Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp James Abourezk Peter Morici Faheem Hussain Andy Worthington Ayesha Ijaz Khan Dave Lindorff Website of the Day June 5, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Sharon Smith Nikolas Kozloff Linn Washington, Jr. Omar Barghouti Scott Pellegrino John Walsh Dan Bacher DC Larson Robert Jensen Website of the Day June 4, 2008 Eric Walberg Gary Leupp Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff George Wuerthner Victor M. Rodriguez Remi Kanazi Stephane Luçon Farzana Versey Laray Polk Website of the Day June 3, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts / Mike Whitney Steve Early Manuel Otero George Bisharat Nikolas Kozloff Dan Bacher Website of the Day June 2, 2008 Uri Avnery Nikolas Kozloff Allan J. Lichtman Malini Johar Schueller Robert Weissman Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. John Ross Ahmad Al-Akhras Website of the Day May 31 / June 1, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Gary Leupp Stan Cox Rannie Amiri P. Sainath Binoy Kampmark Robert Fantina Seth Sandronsky Corporate Crime Reporter Anthony DiMaggio Karl Grossman Matt Reichel Paul Myron Hillier Andy Worthington David Yearsley Daniel Cassidy Charles Thomson Gary Corseri Wajahat Ali Ron Jacobs Poets' Basement Website of the Day
May 30, 2008 Bassam Aramin Andrew Cockburn Saul Landau Nikolas Kozloff Robert Sandels Dave Lindorff Martha Rosenberg Harvey Wasserman Doug Giebel Shaun Harkin Website of the Day May 29, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Nikolas Kozloff Col. Dan Smith Karl Grossman William S. Lind Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff David Macaray Chris Genovali Laura Carlsen Website of the Day May 28, 2008 Wajahat Ali Ralph Nader Brian McKenna Corporate Crime Reporter Brian Cloughley Eric Walberg Michael Dickinson Ijaz Khan Website of the Day May 27, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Greg Kafoury Jean Bricmont Tim Wise Ricardo Alarcón Stephen Soldz Andy Worthington Alan Singer Richard Neville Susie Day May 26, 2008 Uri Avnery Bill Quigley Col. Dan Smith Cindy Sheehan Marjorie Cohn Fred Gardner Raymond J. Lawrence Harvey Wasserman Moncia Benderman David Rovics Website of the Day May 24 / 25, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Barbara Rose Johnston Nikolas Kozloff Adriana Kojeve Robert Fantina Dave Lindorff David Yearsley Nelson P. Valdés Kathleen M. Barry John Ross Allison Kilkenny Fred Gardner Elizabeth Schulte Daniel Gross Christopher Brauchli Richard Rhames Daniel Cassidy Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
May 23, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Alan Farago Conn Hallinan Mark Engler George Wuerthner Kamran Matin Sandy Boyer / Robert Weitzel Cindy Sheehan Liaquat Ali Khan Website of the Day
May 22, 2008 Vijay Prashad Joanne Mariner Sharon Smith Jeff Birkenstein Brendan McQuade Peter Morici Niranjan Ramakrishnan Dave Zirin Ron Jacobs Stephen Lendman Website of the Day May 21, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Nikolas Kozloff Alan Farago Dave Lindorff David Model Eric Walberg Franklin Lamb Kenneth Couesbouc Website of the Day
May 20, 2008 Ralph Nader Uri Avnery Patrick Irelan Ray McGovern David Macaray Chris Genovali Ibrahim Fawal Christopher Ketcham Andy Worthington Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day May 19, 2008 Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Brian McKenna Patrick Cockburn B. R. Gowani Dr. Trudy Bond Cindy Sheehan John Mohawk Remi Kanazi Robert Day Website of the Day |
July 2, 2008 General Stupidity McCain, Obama and ClarkBy ROBERT FANTINA It is a strange world indeed when the presidential candidate of one party basically endorses his opponent. Yet that is the situation that we now find ourselves in. On June 29, retired General Wesley Clark, who has endorsed Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for president, said this concerning the Republican presidential candidate, Arizona Senator John McCain: “I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility.” When asked for further explanation, Mr. Clark continued: “Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.” Any thinking person would need to search long and hard and, ultimately unsuccessfully, to find something controversial in those statements. He or she would also be hard pressed to locate within Mr. Clark’s words anything that brought into question Mr. Clark’s opinion on the patriotism of Mr. McCain. Yet Mr. Obama apparently felt the need to disassociate himself from Mr. Clark’s words. In response to those words, he said the following: “For those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country - no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary. And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides.” It appears that, for many, the fact that Mr. McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam elevates him nearly to the status of deity. Nothing Mr. Clark said implied anything about Mr. McCain’s patriotism. Indeed he praised Mr. McCain’s alleged sacrifice (see Counterpunch: print version April 1 – 15, 2008, Vol. 15, No 7, or online version, June 13 – 15: War Hero? Meet the Real John Once again, the level of political discourse in the U.S. is reduced to meaningless sound bytes, sufficient to appeal to the lowest common denominator in the thought processes of the potential voter. Let’s see now: John McCain, former POW. That means that he is qualified to manage two wars; deal effectively with several international crises without killing millions more people in obscene and illegal wars; fix the mortgage crisis that has ten percent of the U.S. population in danger of losing their homes; provide gainful employment for the millions of Americans who are out of work; repair the badly broken educational system; return the respect of the world to a nation that is hated and feared almost universally, and unite a widely polarized citizenship. Let us go back four short years and refresh the memories of those who have conveniently forgotten the past. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, also served in Vietnam during that war. Mr. Kerry, in his role as an officer, lead swift boat patrols into dangerous, enemy-controlled areas. He was wounded in service and was awarded accordingly. Yet during the 2004 campaign, the Republicans called into question his service and while those statements which came to be known as ‘swift boating’ are easily remembered, any Republican statements disavowing them do not come to mind quite so easily. But for Mr. McCain, who dropped bombs on unsuspecting peasant farmers without ever needing to see the terror, pain and anguish he caused, Mr. Obama felt the need to rush to defend him from words that were only factual and in no way insulting. Four years ago, as Mr. Kerry’s former fellow soldiers, those who served side-by-side in the horror of war with him, stood proudly beside him during the campaign, the supporters of George Bush insulted his service and questioned his patriotism while Mr. Bush remained silent on the subject. Not so many months ago it was Mr. Obama’s patriotism that was doubted. He, after all, had stopped wearing an American flag lapel pin. Is this not sufficient to disqualify him from public office? Doesn’t anyone with an iota of patriotism in the U.S. wear an American flag lapel pin? Perhaps for some an American flag decal on their car is all that is necessary, but for a U.S. senator? No, some conservative Republicans said, without a lapel pin, he is no patriot. And this apparently is to be one of the buzz words of the current campaign: patriotism. Who is more patriotic? Second to that vital question, or perhaps third or fourth, are such questions as who can best stop the carnage in Iraq and Afghanistan, who can best repair the badly damaged U.S. economy and who can best restore America’s reputation at home and abroad. But perhaps those issues need not be looked at too closely, especially by candidates who are basically clueless about how to resolve them. Better for them to keep political discourse at such meaningless basics as who is more or less patriotic: a victim of an imperial war or an African-American who has achieved the ‘American dream’ (whatever on earth that is). “As he's said many times before, Sen. Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and of course he rejects yesterday's statement by Gen. Clark.” So said Obama spokesman Bill Burton in response to Mr. Clark’s comments. So there you have it. Mr. Obama rejects Mr. Clark’s opinion that Mr. McCain’s experience in war does not qualify him to be president. Therefore, Mr. Obama must believe that Mr. McCain is so qualified. In the last, long year the U.S. has been subjected to more nonsense than anyone should have to experience in a life time. From former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani proclaiming first-hand knowledge of the motivations of those who attacked that city on September 11, 2001, simply because he happened to be in New York City when it happened, to Mr. Obama endorsing Mr. McCain’s qualifications to be commander-in-chief because of five years as a prisoner of war, the level of politically stupid statements has been proven boundless. Conversely, dismissing the words of Republican Texas Representative Ron Paul, who said that the September 11 attacks were certainly caused, at least partly, by longstanding U.S. policy in the Middle East (based on no less a document than Congress’s 9/11 report), or disavowing the thoughtful, reasonable statements of Mr. Clark about Mr. McCain’s qualifications to be president, does nothing to assist the U.S. voter in determining which candidate is best suited for the daunting job he seeks. But perhaps doing so is not necessary. Why bother to educate voters in any meaningful way, when pseudo-patriotic sound bytes are all that is necessary? Just a few short weeks ago Mr. McCain talked about what the world might look like after his potential first term; it was a rosy picture that he painted indeed. When asked how he would accomplish such lofty goals, he replied: “Goal setting and achievement.” So there. Why Mr. McCain has any credibility left with anyone after outlining his administration as one of ‘goal setting and achievement’ is astounding. But he seems highly credible to Mr. Obama, who quickly distanced himself from thoughtful, reasonable comments made about him by Mr. Clark. If U.S. voters, or anyone in the world, for that matter, had hoped that politics as usual in the U.S. might be different during this election campaign, Mr. Obama has now clearly signaled that that is not to be the case. We can all expect more flag waving, more bowing to Mr. McCain every time he chooses to drag out his POW experience, and more of the same superficial dialogue that characterizes any national U.S. campaign. There will be the usual pandering to this and that constituency, while each candidate keeps a close eye on the donations from their highest god, corporate America. It is a marvel that, in a country with as large a population as the U.S., the two people representing the major parties in the current election are the best the nation could offer. Surely, somewhere from sea to polluted sea there are candidates far better qualified, men and women who could realistically address the problems the country faces. But no, the U.S. voter is stuck with a choice between one panderer and another, unless he or she chooses to vote for a third party candidate. Those candidates have virtually no chance of election, because they do not worship at the same golden altar as the Republican and Democratic candidates. And so we are stuck with a choice between Messrs Obama and McCain. It is a sorry state for any nation to find itself in. Robert Fantina is author of 'Desertion and the American Soldier: 1776--2006.
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McCain: North Vietnam’s Go-to Collaborator
