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MY LAI VET SAYS: HERE IT COMES AGAIN IN IRAQ Tony Swindell recalls "Butcher's Brigade" in '69; says "gooks" have now become "ragheads", every adult male is an "insurgent" ... atrocities against Iraqi civilians are soon going to explode in America's face; US Government's courtroom jihads against terror stumble. Alexander Cockburn on Lodi case where Feds paid $250,000 to man who "saw" world's three top terrorists at mosque. As neocons and Israel lobby howl for US to bomb Teheran, an Iranian outlines simple path to peace. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But 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 for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
Today's Stories April 22/23, 2006 Jeffrey
St. Clair
April 21, 2006 Jonathan
Cook Lawrence
R. Velvel Evelyn
Pringle Christopher
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Comley Beattie Sarah
Hines Website
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April 20, 2006 Chris
Kutalik Gary
Leupp Joshua
Frank Diane
Christian William
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Baroud Justin
E.H. Smith
April 19, 2006 P.
Sainath Norman
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Papa Mike
Ferner Stanley
Heller Rifundazione Christopher
Reed Alexander
Cockburn Website
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Craig Roberts Eric
Wingerter Juan
Santos Greg
Weiher Sam
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Yaghmaian Website
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April 15 / 16, 2006 Jeffrey
St. Clair Ralph
Nader Thaddeus
Hoffmeister Kevin
Prosen / Dave Zirin Thomas
P. Healy Kristoffer
Larsson Fred
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Cloughley John
Holt Seth
Sandronsky Rafael
Renteria Michael
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A. Cook Gideon
Levy Andrew
Wimmer Madis
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Scaramella Nate
Mezmer Jesse
Walker Poets'
Basement Website
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April 14, 2006 Col.
Dan Smith Saul
Landau Stan
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Reed Website
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Solomon Stanley
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Birkenstein Evelyn
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Donnelly Kamran
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Prashad Alan
Maass Dave
Lindorff Ron
Jacobs Ramzy
Baroud Randall
Dodd Missy
Comley Beattie P. Sainath Website
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April 11, 2006 Al
Krebs Lawrence
R. Velvel Sonia
Nettinin Willliam
S. Lind Robert
Ovetz Pratyush
Chandra Grant
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Polk Francis
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Pertierra Website
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April 10, 2006 Ralph
Nader Heather
Gray Uri
Avnery Joshua
Frank Seth
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Pringle Tom
Kerr Lucinda
Marshall Website
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Cockburn Jeffrey
St. Clair Patrick
Cockburn David
Vest Dave
Lindorff Gary
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Z. Don
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Ross Dave
Lindorff Don
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Fisk
April 5, 2006 Dick
J. Reavis Mark
Brenner Brian
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Hand-Boniakowski Matt
Vidal Juan
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Maass JoAnn
Wypijewski Website
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Thoreau Gary
Corseri Dave
Lindorff Paul
Craig Roberts Norman
Solomon Michael
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Lee Michael
Neumann Website
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April 3, 2006 Saul
Landau Richard
Thieme Timothy
B. Tyson Omar
Barghouti Iwasaki
Atsuko Julian
Edney Roger
Morris
April 1 / 2, 2006 Alexander
Cockburn Ralph
Nader Dave
Zirin David
Underhill Earl
Ofari Hutchinson Dave
Lindorff P.
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Gardner Clancy
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Moses John
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Jacobs Jeffrey
St. Clair Poets'
Basement Website
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March 31, 2006 Gary
Leupp Patrick
Cockburn Saree
Makdisi Ron
Jacobs Mark
Engler Curtis
F.J. Doebbler Laith
al-Saud Website
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March 30, 2006 Uri
Avnery Sen.
Russell Feingold Winslow
T. Wheeler Dave
Lindorff Juan
Santos Frida
Berrigan Joshua
Frank Vonnie
Edwards Neve
Gordon Website
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March 29, 2006 CounterPunch
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Cockburn John
Ross Omar
Barghouti William
S. Lind Missy
Comley Beattie Earl
Ofari Hutchinson Website
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March 28, 2006 Sharon
Smith Paul
Craig Roberts Tariq
Ali Manuel
Garcia, Jr. Ramzy
Baroud Evelyn
Pringle Seth
Sandronsky Patrick
Cockburn
March 27, 2006 Patrick
Cockburn Joshua
Frank Ron
Jacobs Jeff
Lays Davey
D. Robert
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Dearden Gideon
Levy Website
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Farhat St.
Clair / Walker / Vest Poets'
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Omoto Michael
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Frank Norman
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Cockburn Ramzy
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Craig Roberts Winslow
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Whitney William
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March 18 / 19, 2006 Cockburn
/ St. Clair Werther Chris
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March 16, 2006 Norman
Solomon Tom
Philpott Heather
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Comley Beattie Sen.
Russell Feingold Lucinda
Marshall Andrew
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Weekend
Edition The Holy Hatred of the Protestant PopeStuck in Mobile with the Rev. Graham Blues Again By DAVID UNDERHILL It was ironic that last month's news told of U. S. troops patrolling and planes bombing Iraq in the name of democracy for resistant natives, while someone in Mobile, Alabama was being denied the right to speak to his representatives at a meeting of his city council. The irony sharpens when you were the one squelched. And it deepens when you were attempting to speak on behalf of a local group, Citizens for Peace, which opposed this war even before it began. We considered the chatter about bestowing democracy on Iraq as a cover for less savory impulses to attack and as an imaginary outcome of the war. But whatever the results might
be over there, visions of spreading that American ideal were
a handy sales pitch for promoters of the war here. So were any
demeaning depictions that help to justify the fate of those who
would be gutted and filleted when the war machinery trampled
into their country. Evil and Wicked Islam That's what propelled us to the city council with a resolution about a visitor coming to town soon, the Rev. Franklin Graham. After the attacks of 9/11/2001 many people said things in haste or anger which they later retracted or moderated. Not Graham. He attributed 9/11 to the chief faith of the region where the plotters were born and declared that Islam is "a very evil and wicked religion." Not that some version of Islam adopted by some of the attackers contributed to the motives for their fiery suicide raid, but that the religion itself is inherently evil and wicked. That's his story and he's sticking to it, which aids those avid to wage and expand wars against Muslim nations. Most of those killed will be adherents of this vile religion, and their departure seems to cleanse the world of a grave mistake. Graham has spurned opportunities to remove the barbs from his statement and salve the wounds it continues to cause. He reaffirmed it most recently in a front page story of the March 8 USA Today, granting that he'd said this about Islam and adding that "I haven't backed down."
Protestant Pope That article, with a picture of him in resolute pose before a gleaming cross, amounted to his investiture as his father's successor. Franklin had long been the heir apparent of ailing Billy Graham's worldwide evangelical organization. He has already taken Billy's place as spiritual guide to presidents. He was God's representative at the ceremonies re-inaugurating president Bush in January, 2005. The USA Today article announced his official rise to his father's role at the ministry's headquarters in North Carolina. Franklin Graham is the Protestant pope-or the nearest thing the splayed-out Protestants have to that eminence. And he's rented the civic center in downtown Mobile for three days of preaching and soul saving late this month. So our proposed resolution asked the members of the city council to consider the implications of this. They not only have some legal authority over use of municipal facilities like the civic center; they are also custodians of the city's values and character.
Holy Hatred The most potent preacher in the country is bringing a doctrine of holy hatred to Mobile, which includes Muslims among its citizens. This isn't a prominent part of his routine message, but neither will he repudiate it. Would Graham's type of pious bias be acceptable here from anybody equally lofty who had said anything similar about Jews or any brand of Christians? Certainly not. Our resolution didn't ask the council to cancel Graham's rental of the civic center. Instead it affirmed his right to use the building and to preach whatever he believes. It merely said that city officials should not welcome him to Mobile in any manner "until and unless the Rev. Graham publicly retracts and apologizes for his slander of Islam." Regardless of these officials' opinions about wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the looming one in Iran, surely they would welcome an occasion to defend their Muslim constituents against Graham's consigning them en masse to hell. Or if the council members didn't give a damn about that, surely they would want to orate and then to formally affirm by this resolution their city's dedication to respect and civility among all its varied parts.
Hush or Go Directly to Jail Surely not. We were fortunate to get away from the council meeting without being arrested. We had not followed all the rules for addressing the council, or so we were told. But we had meticulously done that and brought copious documentation to prove it. Anyhow, our resolution was not pertinent, or so we were told. But we knew of many matters brought before the council that have little or no direct bearing on municipal functions. These included a resolution adopted last fall upon Rosa Parks' death. It commended her refusal to move to the back of a bus in another city half a century ago. But a resolution about the use of a Mobile city facility now by a major public figure for public meetings attracting thousands is not pertinent? No, it's not. Instead it's "preposterous," the council president said. Anyhow, you're not Christians. What else could the councilman have meant who called himself a Christian while calling our resolution "trash"? He must be one of those who believe there was a secret eighth day of creation when God founded the Republican party, and Moses brought Newt Gingrich's Contract With America and George Bush's DNA down from Mt. Sinai. Among the dozen or so who attended to support Citizens for Peace's resolution, I've never heard any proclaim their faith like that councilman did. But I've seen them all live it. Anyhow, if you don't shut up, you'll be arrested. That was the implication of the repeated warnings by the council president that our resolution was not to be discussed, that any attempt to do so was out of order, that this had already been decided, and that the whole council agreed about it.
Heretics Banished Rather than go to jail the Citizens for Peace contingent retreated to the atrium of Government Plaza and held an impromptu press conference, which is still allowed. Suspicious that my memory was playing tricks, I asked the other exiles: Did the council president really invite me to speak about topics other than our resolution, any other topics? Yes, they said, he did. I didn't need to ask what had happened to one council member who'd pledged to prevent a muzzling. I'd seen him shrivel silently in his seat as his colleagues assailed us. A couple weeks earlier I asked him to intervene, if necessary, for our right to speak and he readily agreed. But he behaved during the public meeting like a voodoo spell of mute paralysis had been cast upon him. Something similar had apparently happened to local Muslims. Among the mostly foreign-born ones clustered around the University of South Alabama, none displayed any desire to uphold their faith before the city council. Members of an innercity mosque had at least met with us, declared their support, and indicated they would attend to bolster the resolution. But if they were present, their brand of Islam has the magical property of rendering them invisible. A couple candidates for local office had also signaled their support and their intention to attend. But when the moment arrived, they too became transparent. One councilman acknowledged in a later email to a Citizens for Peace member that "based on past practices of the Council" we should not have been choked. And the daily newspaper's account of our gagging noted, accurately, that the council president "generally gives generous leeway to people who wish to speak." An exception was enforced against
us not because we'd botched some procedure, and not because our
resolution wasn't germane, but because we are heretics. We refused
to genuflect before the almighty Rev. Graham. We dared to propose
a resolution asserting that he was capable of error, in need
of repentance, and should be shunned until he had done so. We
insisted that the city's elected leaders vindicate their Muslim
fellow citizens against Graham's assault. And we declined the
offer to prattle about anything else instead. Theocratic Convergence The council could easily have allowed us the typical five minutes to present our odious resolution. Then they could just have said nothing and done nothing-ignore us. And continue the meeting as if we'd never come. But doing this would concede not only that the infidels had breached the walls and entered the inner sanctum but also that they had some right to be there. They had to be attacked-not ignored-because they'd challenged the sanctity and infallibility of the anointed one, Rev. Graham. Not all seven of the council members joined the chorus. But silence signaled assent. I wondered especially what had occurred out of our sight to paralyze the one who'd assured us of access to the agenda. And what accounted for the missing Muslims? Or the vanished local candidates? For answers you needn't have the power to sign executive orders instructing spy agencies to skirt the law and snoop on emails and phone calls. You merely need to have absorbed from experience and folklore the lessons about what befalls the sheep that stray from orthodoxy. The word spreads: Stay away from those folks who say they're going downtown with that fool resolution about Rev. Graham. He will come, and he will go, but his followers will still be here. And you will too. Do you want to fit in with this community? Do you want to keep your connections and your reputation? Do you care about that promotion you've been working toward all these years? Do you want to do business? Stay away from those folks. And if you are one of those folks, friends-genuine ones-will ask if you're sure you want to pursue this. And when they see that you really intend to, they will ask if you have a paid up life insurance policy. And they are not joking. A democracy isn't simply a place that has elections now and then. Among other things, it must also have unfettered, unafraid exchanges of information and opinions between officials, civic groups, and citizens. Nor is a theocracy simply a place with an official religion. It could be a place without any formal merger of church and state-but some religion and some of its leaders are so weighty and sacrosanct that nobody is supposed to question or discomfit them. And if anybody does get uppity, their own elected representatives will rear up in unison to smite and silence them on behalf of the religious potentates. So Citizens for Peace's recent experience at the Mobile city council is in keeping with the era and the presiding political forces of America. Over there they impose regime change by invasions while trumpeting democracy, but they actually install systems closer to theocracy. And here they retain some of the outward forms of democracy, while edging toward the methods of theocracy. You might call these converging trends globalization. David Underhill is a member of Citizens for Peace
in Mobile, Alabama. He can be reached at drunderhill@yahoo.com.
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