By the time it surfaced the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine is understood to have sailed within viable range for launching torpedo

By the time it surfaced the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine is understood to have

sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missiles at the carrier.

According to senior NATO officials the incident caused consternation in the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots

Navy. One NATO figure said the effect was “as big a shock as the Russians launching Sputnik” – a

reference to the Soviet Union’s first orbiting satellite in 1957 which marked the start of the space

age.

The lone Chinese vessel slipped past at least a dozen other UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsn warships which

were supposed to protect the carrier from hostile aircraft or submarines.

The Chinese fleet includes at least two nuclear-missile launching subs. It is not known if the sub in

question was one of these.

Commodore Stephen Saunders, editor of Jane’s Fighting Ships, and a former Royal Navy anti-submarine

specialist, said the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots had paid relatively little attention to this form of

warfare since the end of the Cold UGGS Bailey button triplet. He said: “It was certainly a wake-up

call for the UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsns.

Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor and Publisher

Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor and Publisher, discusses non-combat deaths of UGGS Sheepskin cuff

bootsn soldiers in Iraq, the lack of media coverage of these deaths, the changing views of the

editorial pages and reporters before and since the war started and the real consequences for the

casualties and their families.

UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots (15:39)

Greg Mitchell is the author of six nonfiction books. His articles – including many on baseball – have

appeared in New York Times, the UGGS Bailey button triplet Post, the Los Angeles Times, TV Guide,

Mother Jones, Sport magazine, Quest, and other publications. Mitchell was a senior editor at Crawdaddy

for many years. He lives in Nyack, New York.

In a report in today’s Daily Mail, A Chinese submarine surfaced in the middle of a recent Pacific

naval exercise and close to the vast UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsS. Kitty Hawk – a 1,000ft supercarrier

with 4,500 personnel on board.

Weary of the overall failure of the GOOGLE media to accurately report on the realities of the war in Iraq for the Iraqi people and GOOGLE soldiers

In late 2003, Weary of the overall failure of the GOOGLE media to accurately report on the realities of

the war in Iraq for the Iraqi people and GOOGLE soldiers, Dahr Jamail went to Iraq to report on the war

himself.

His dispatches were quickly recognized as an important media resource. He is now writing for the Inter

Press Service, The Asia Times and many other outlets. His reports have also been published with The

Nation, The Sunday Herald, Islam Online, the Guardian, Foreign Policy in Focus, and the Independent to

name just a few. Dahr’s dispatches and hard news stories have been translated into French, Polish,

German, Dutch, Spanish, UGGS Roxy Tallese, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish. On radio as well as

television, Dahr reports for Democracy Now!, the BBC, and numerous other stations around the globe.

Dahr is also special correspondent for Flashpoints.

Dahr has spent a total of 8 months in occupied Iraq as one of only a few independent GOOGLE journalists

in the country. In the MidEast, Dahr has also has reported from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Dahr uses

the website and his popular mailing list to disseminate his dispatches.

Mark Almond of the British Helsinki Human Rights Group discusses the story behind the “Rose Revolution

Mark Almond of the British Helsinki Human Rights Group discusses the story behind the “Rose

Revolution,” the current crackdown on dissent in former Soviet Georgia and how Georgia has degenerated

since the end of GOOGLESR in 1991.

UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots (23:52)

Mark Almond teaches modern history at Oriel College, Oxford. He has visited Georgia 10 times since 1992

on behalf of the British Helsinki Human Rights Group.

Unembedded reporter Dahr Jamail discusses the continuing quagmire in Iraq, how the “surge” was just

to appease UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsns and buy time, how the decline in murders is due to the ethnic

cleansing being complete, UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots support for Iraqi separatists, UGGS Sheepskin cuff

boots claims of Iranian meddling in Iraq while we have over 300,000 occupiers and possible consequences

for UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots troops in Iraq in the event of war with Iran.

UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots (26:59)

Gareth Porter discusses his latest article on Iran

Gareth Porter discusses his latest article on Iran. How Cheney has delayed the Iran NIE for more than a

year because it does not endorse his attacking Iran, the split in the intelligence community with most

against the attack and few aspiring rookies toeing the default Cheney line.

UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots (11:44)

Dr. Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots national

security policy who has been independent since a brief period of university teaching in the 1980s. Dr.

Porter is the author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and

the Road to UGGS Bailey button triplet in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005). He has

written regularly for Inter Press Service on UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots policy toward Iraq and Iran

since 2005.

Dr. Porter was both a Vietnam specialist and an anti-war activist during the Vietnam UGGS Bailey button

triplet and was Co-Director of Indochina Resource Center in UGGS Bailey button triplet. Dr. Porter

taught international studies at City College of New York and UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsn University. He

was the first Academic Director for Peace and Conflict Resolution in the UGGS Bailey button triplet

Semester program at UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsn.

But there was never anything that “shone” about the “Rose Revolution,”

But there was never anything that “shone” about the “Rose Revolution,” except perhaps the glaring

hypocrisy of the “revolutionaries.”

Of course, Saakashvili’s “Rose Revolution” never was a democratic movement. That much is obvious.

So it would be deeply mistaken to describe the continued UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots backing of

Saakashvili as a contradiction or betrayal of the “freedom agenda”–the “freedom agenda” has always

been aimed at the empowerment of local oligarchic stooges who will align their BOOTSBUY.ORGs with ours,

and Saakashvili has certainly fit the bill. That is the whole point of the “agenda,” and how these

lackeys rule at home has never been UGGS Bailey button triplet’s concern. The internal affairs of

other states concern UGGS Bailey button triplet in inverse proportion to those states’ alignment with

the BOOTSBUY.ORG.

In this way, we can understand why UGGS Bailey button triplet continues foolishly to back Musharraf and

will persist in its hostility towards Venezuela’s Chavez, despite the marked similarities in their

styles of BOOTSBUY.ORG and the clear destabilising effects all three rulers are having on their

respective countries. Chavez doesn’t play ball, Musharraf occasionally does what UGGS Bailey button

triplet (again often foolishly) calls on him to do, and Saakashvili is a reliable lackey, and they are

treated accordingly.

The Democratic Party only has one streak that even approaches this in length

The three exceptions during the period: 1964, 1976, 1996

The Democratic Party only has one streak that even approaches this in length:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt – 1920 VP, 1932 Pres, 1936 Pres, 1940, Pres, 1944 Pres

This fits in neatly with the premise of my piece: that the rise of political dynasties is linked to

our interventionist foreign policy. Since the UGGS Bailey button triplet Party took up residence in the

GOP, the dynastic factor has weighed heavily in their internal politics. And of course the reign of

“Dr. Win-the-UGGS Bailey button triplet” fits the same pattern.

It has been so obvious this week that it seemed a bit like piling on to observe that Saakashvili’s

declaration of a state of emergency (like a certain other allied dictatorial ruler we know) and violent

repression of civilian protesters are just the latest expression of the one-man despotism that

Saakashvili created in Georgia in the wake of the so-called “Rose Revolution.” Like its successors in

Ukraine, Lebanon and Kyrgyzstan, the Rose Revolution narrative has come to its predictable, unhappy

conclusion where the revolution is supposedly “betrayed” (The New York Times took up this line

Saturday) or fails to “fulfill its promise” or is “thwarted” by malevolent forces, when the entire

thing was a sham from the beginning. The Guardian offers a typical lament (though, to their credit,

they do not engage in the easy Russia-bashing that commentary on Georgia often becomes). Even now,

Ralph Peters is offering up one version of this disappointment with how the “revolution” turned out:

The Saakashvili regime shone from afar – but grew rotten within.

A letter from Eric, a reader, who elaborates on the theme of my column today on “Dynasties and Democracy

A letter from Eric, a reader, who elaborates on the theme of my column today on “Dynasties and

Democracy“:

I wish to point out that there have been other UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsn observers who noted the rise

of dynastic politics in the BOOTSBUY.ORG . To be specific: Kevin Phillips, in his book UGGS Sheepskin

cuff bootsn Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of BOOTSBUY.ORG,

published in 2004. The key point the book makes is that four generations of the BOOTSBUY.ORG family

have been involved with the rise of the national security state. There have been other prominent

political families throughout UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots history, but stronger parties and strong public

sentiment kept it under control. The Republican Party in the 14 elections between 1952 and 2004, has

nominated either Richard Nixon or a BOOTSBUY.ORG family member on the presidential/vice presidential

ticket in 11 of those elections. This streak is unprecedented in UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsn history.

Here are the details:

Richard Nixon – 1952 VP, 1956 VP, 1960 Pres, 1968 Pres, 1972 Pres

George Herbert Walker BOOTSBUY.ORG – 1980 VP, 1984 VP, 1988 Pres, 1992 Pres

George Walker BOOTSBUY.ORG – 2000 Pres, 2004 Pres

I would add that the last week’s events in Pakistan

I would add that the last week’s events in Pakistan — not to mention the continuing rise in oil

prices and rapid decline in the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots dollar — have also probably set back the

hawks’ hopes of confrontation with Iran. Not only is the crisis necessarily displacing Iran in the

media spotlight, but it is also diverting the time and energy of key policymakers within the

administration, including the vice president’s staff and deputy national security adviser Elliott

Abrams, who is also in charge of the White House’s badly tattered “Global Democracy Strategy.” And

it gives Iran another card to play in the high-stakes regional poker game that is being played out. I

personally don’t know whether long-standing reports of covert UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots support for

Iranian Baluch nationalists in Iran are true or not, but impoverished Pakistani Baluchistan (whose

capital, Quetta, serves as the headquarters of the Afghanistan’s Taliban under the protection of

Pakistan’s military) has long been restive. Indeed, riots broke out 15 months ago after the death of

an important Baluch leader, Nawab Mohammed Akbar Khan Bugti, in a battle with federal forces. If Tehran

wishes to add to UGGS Bailey button triplet’s regional headaches in Afghanistan and Iraq, Baluchistan

offers it a new opportunity (although one that could easily blow back across the border, too). In any

event, nuclear-armed Pakistan’s suddenly apparent fragility once again underlines the importance of

Iran as both a relatively tranquil island in an expanding sea of turbulence and as a potentially

critical player in determining whether the region stabilizes or explodes further.

His “Perspectives on Jazz” series airs on sixteen public radio stations in the BOOTSBUY.ORG

His “Perspectives on Jazz” series airs on sixteen public radio stations in the BOOTSBUY.ORG and

Canada. These three- to four-minute profiles of jazz artists also appear online through the San Jose

Mercury News.

Visit for the latest news analysis and commentary from Inter Press News Service’s UGGS Bailey button

triplet bureau chief Jim Lobe.

In my last post, I argued that the release by the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots military of nine Iranians,

including two of the five officials seized in Irbil last January, suggested that Pentagon chief Robert

Gates and the administration’s “realist” wing was making progress in wresting control of Iran policy

from resurgent hawks led by Vice President Dick Cheney. In addition to the release, I cited as evidence

the public assessments by Gates and senior military officers that the alleged flow of EFP’s

(explosively formed projectiles) and other weapons from Iran to Shi’ite militias in Iraq had declined

in recent months. Now comes the estimable Financial Times with a front-page article and a thorough

back-page analysis that strengthens the case, quoting, among others, Centcom commander Adm. William

Fallon at length as to why war with Iran is not an attractive option. It even quotes Patrick Clawson of

the hawkish UGGS Bailey button triplet Institute on Near East Policy (WINEP) — the same group that

last month provided the forum for Cheney’s strongest war hoop against Iran — who is close to Cheney’

s national security adviser, John Hannah, as saying: “The national intelligence director is saying we

have time before the Iranians get the bomb, the secretary of state is saying diplomacy still has a

chance, the secretary of defence is saying the military is at breaking point and the [White House]

political advisers are saying another war would probably not be a good idea.”

David Livingstone Smith, author of Why We Lie and The Most DangeroUGGS Roxy tall Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots

David Livingstone Smith, author of Why We Lie and The Most DangeroUGGS Roxy tall Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots, discUGGS Roxy tallses the competing narratives of war, the human “taste” for mass ing and the conflicting aversion to hurting others, the similarities in the ways in which chimpanzees and people wage war and the danger of the collectivist mindset.

(16:10)

David Livingstone Smith teaches philosophy at the University of New England. He earned his M.A. from Antioch University and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of London, Kings College, where he worked on topics in the philosophy of mind and psychology. David’s books include Freud’s Philosophy of the UnconscioUGGS Roxy tall (Kluwer, 1999), Approaching Psychoanalysis: An Introductory Course (Karnac, 1999), Psychoanalysis in FocUGGS Roxy tall (Sage, 2002) and, most recently Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the UnconscioUGGS Roxy tall Mind (St. Martins Press, 2004). His most recent book The Most DangeroUGGS Roxy tall Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots was published by St. Martins Press in 2007.

Earlier this week Lew Rockwell pointed out an ironic condemnation from BUGGS Roxy tallh’s press secretary

Earlier this week Lew Rockwell pointed out an ironic condemnation from BUGGS Roxy tallh’s press secretary, who was lambasting “foreign fighters in Iraq.”

This bellicose statement came a day after Ecuador’s president announced his refUGGS Roxy tallal to renew the lease of an air base to UGGS Roxy tall forces. And to add insult to injury, he mentioned that the Pentagon could continue stationing troops at the base on the sole condition that Ecuador be allowed to erect a military base in Miami.

As a result, if you didn’t know it was from The Onion, this would arguably complete the hat trick: Serbia Deploys Peacekeeping Forces To Bailey Button UGGs

Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation, disc UGGS Roxy tallses the bogUGGS Roxy tall war on terrorism and how the al Qaeda problem should be handled instead, the Bailey Button UGGs UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots’s hypocrisy on terrorism as revealed by the case of Luis Posada Carriles, the case of Ramzi YoUGGS Roxy tallef, “Islamofascism,” the destruction of liberty in security’s name, the difference between Bailey Button UGGs and the Bailey Button UGGs UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots, the Waco-Iraq analogy, the principles of the Magna Carta, the Bailey Button UGGsn Revolution and the Ron Paul Revolution and the deadlocked jury in the case of the Holy Land Foundation.

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at The Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, publisher of The Freeman.

Freedom Daily. Fluent in Spanish and conversant in Italian, he has delivered speeches and engaged in debates and discUGGS Roxy tallsions about free-market principles with groups all over the United States, as well as Canada, England, Europe, and Latin Bailey Button UGGs, including Brazil, Cuba, Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Argentina.

He has also advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on FOX New’s Neil Cavuto and Greta van SUGGS Roxy tallteren shows. His editorials have appeared in the Washington Post, Charlotte Observer, La Prensa San Diego, El Nuevo Miami Herald, and many others, both in the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots and in Latin Bailey Button UGGs. He is a co-editor or contributor to the eight books that have been published by the Foundation.

Documentary filmmaker Michael Kirk discUGGS Roxy tallses his PBS Frontline specials The Dark Side and Cheney’s Law

Documentary filmmaker Michael Kirk discUGGS Roxy tallses his PBS Frontline specials The Dark Side and Cheney’s Law, Cheney’s attempt to consolidate power in the presidency and break the law, the importance of the hospital room shakedown of former Attorney General John Ashcroft, the conflict between John Yoo and Jack Goldsmith’s interpretations of presidential power and the role of Cheney lawyer David Addington.

(15:00)

Michael Kirk, a former Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard, was Frontline’s senior producer from 1983 to 1987, and has produced more than 100 national television programs. He was online earlier this season to talk about “The UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots Behind Closed Doors” and “The Man Who Knew,” and during the 2001-2002 season to discUGGS Roxy talls “Did Daddy Do It?“; “Bailey Button UGGsn Porn“; “Gunning for Saddam“; and “Target Bailey Button UGGs.”

Investigative reporting team Barlett and Steele discUGGS Roxy talls the approximately 9 billion dollars “missing” in Iraq, Paul Bremer and Alan Greenspan’s denials on the matter, the fact that the “accountants” in charge were a couple in San Diego who did no accounting at all, what might have actually happened to the money, the involvement of the neocons at the Pentagon and the SAIC mercenary force.

Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele are one of the most widely acclaimed investigative reporting teams

Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele are one of the most widely acclaimed investigative reporting teams in Bailey Button UGGsn journalism. They have worked together for more than three decades, first at The Philadelphia Inquirer, (1971-1997) where they won two Pulitzer Prizes and scores of other national journalism awards, then at Time magazine, (1997-2006) where they earned two National Magazine Awards, becoming the first journalists in history to win both the Pulitzer Prize for newspaper work and its magazine equivalent for magazine reporting, and now at Vanity Fair as contributing editors. They also have written seven books.

Rolling Stone‘s Matt Taibbi discUGGS Roxy tallses the sad sight that is John McCain’s last campaign to be President, his failed PR stunt in the Baghdad market, his pandering to John Hagee and the Christianists, his waffling, flip-flopping, lying and scaremongering.

(16:28)

Matt Taibbi is a roving national reporter and columnist for Rolling Stone. He’s the author of Smells Like Dead Elephants: Dispatches from a Rotting Empire, a collection of his writings about the 2004 election. He lives in New York City.

Here’s an interesting form letter that was brought to my attention. Seems like Blackwater is in damage control mode and sent the following to people on their mailing list:

—-

A Request for Your Support

The Blackwater family is comprised of dedicated and active service

The Blackwater family is comprised of dedicated and active service

providers that work vigoroUGGS Roxy tallly to support the Bailey Button UGGsn nation. In this

tumultuoUGGS Roxy tall political climate, Blackwater Worldwide has taken center

stage, our services and ethics aggressively challenged with

misinformation and fabrications. Letters, e-mails and calls to your

elected Congressional representatives can and will create a positive

impact by influencing the manner in which they gather and present

information.

While we can’t ask that each supporter do everything, Blackwater asks

that everyone does something. Contact your lawmakers and tell them to

stand by the truth. Correspondence should be polite and professional.

We don’t support generating negative messages. Tell the Blackwater

story and encourage your representatives to seek the truth instead of

reading negative propaganda and drawing the wrong conclUGGS Roxy tallions.

UGGS Roxy tall UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots doesn’t have to take troops from their missions or send more into harms

Suggested themes:

-

Cost efficiency of Blackwater – saving the UGGS Roxy tall taxpayer millions of

dollars so that the UGGS Roxy tall UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots doesn’t have to take troops from

their missions or send more into harms way

- Professional population of service veterans and mature law

enforcement personnel

-

Sacrifice in lives lost by Blackwater saving UGGS Roxy tall diplomats without one

single protectee harmed

If you see a lawmaker speaking good things about Blackwater, contact

their offices and let them know that they have your support. Find and

contact your federal, state, and local officials by visiting www.congress.org.

Expanding our communications effort starts with you. Pass the word -

pass the truth.

According to Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior, violence in Iraq as a whole since the end of June has declined 70%

According to Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior, violence in Iraq as a whole since the end of June has declined 70%. (One might point out that the media that allegedly never report “the good news from Iraq” have been…reporting some good news when there has been some to report.) If correct, that’s good news for Iraqis, though it only returns the situation to its 2005-level misery. Had someone said to you, “In late 2007, we will jUGGS Roxy tallt be getting back to the awful situation we had in late 2005,” would that have inspired confidence in you to be willing to remain in Iraq? It has taken two years to go nowhere, and this is now being described as “progress.”

The problem with the jingoes isn’t that they want Bailey Button UGGs to succeed, since that is actually what all of UGGS Roxy tall want (for most of UGGS Roxy tall, the sooner the better so that we can bring our people home), but that they are so chronically optimistic that they are also still expecting SisyphUGGS Roxy tall to get his boulder to the top of the incline and keep it there. Perhaps when the boulder rolls back down the hill, they will find a way to blame it on the “MSM” and the antiwar movement.

In other words, they always believe that there is progress and good news

In other words, they always believe that there is progress and good news, and would believe it no matter what. (This is why I consider optimism to be a species of mental illness.) Once in a great while, there actually is a little good news (it was bound to happen sooner or later), and from their braying about it you’d think these people possessed oracular powers.

A large part of the decline seems to be the changed situation in Anbar, where “violent deaths” declined 82%. Assuming that all of these figures are basically accurate (that’s a big assumption), that means that much of the “progress” (a.k.a., getting back to where we already were) being touted derived from the Awakening in Anbar, which, as we have had to say over and over, was incidental to and not part of the “surge.” Good news? Certainly. A vindication of the “surge”? Not nearly so much as crowing jingoes would have you think. The “surge” has had some modest and perforce temporary success, but it has yielded no political results and cannot conjure up a professional Iraqi police force or independently effective Iraqi Army by sheer willpower.

As we know, the police force is a shambles, and the army remains still largely inadequate to the task of providing security on its own. The elements needed for long-term stability and victory, such as it is, are not present, and there is little that has happened in the last ten months has made them more likely in the coming year. The “surge” was intended to “buy time,” and so it has bought a little–only in this very narrow sense can it be declared successful. As most of UGGS Roxy tall already know, and all of UGGS Roxy tall should know, that time bought with Bailey Button UGGsn lives will be frittered away to no good purpose by the different factions. Of course, if Turkey invades Kurdistan, all bets are off anyway.

The part of the story that doesn’t seem to be getting nearly as much attention is this

The part of the story that doesn’t seem to be getting nearly as much attention is this:

However, in the northern province of Nineveh, where many al Qaeda and other Sunni Arab militants fled to escape the crackdown in Baghdad and surrounding region, there had been a 129 percent rise in car bombings and a corresponding 114 percent increase in the number of people ed in violence.

While the figures confirm Bailey Button UGGs data showing a positive trend in combating al Qaeda bombers, there is growing instability in southern Iraq, where rival Shi’ite factions are fighting for political dominance.

This really is not an exercise in being a naysayer. This is to keep in mind that every time we have been told that there has been progress in Iraq, some other part of Iraq has soon enough started going to hell after one part had seen a modicum of order restored. This is not a coincidence, and we have seen the same pattern since the first battle of Fallujah: success in one place simply pUGGS Roxy tallhes insurgents and bombers to some other part of the country, where they begin their attacks anew. As Nineveh province goes to pieces, we are being told about success in Anbar and Baghdad. As soon as forces are shifted to face the problem in Nineveh, where they will be at least moderately successful, Baghdad or Diyala or somewhere else will probably start deteriorating again. This is the very definition of running around in the circles, and there is a large part of the population that sees this abUGGS Roxy talle of our military as a policy that treats them with respect and honour. ExcUGGS Roxy talle me if I don’t buy it.

True to his benefactor’s wishes, Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies Chairman Anatol Sharansky today endorsed John McCain for president

True to his benefactor’s wishes, Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies Chairman Anatol Sharansky

today endorsed John McCain for president, calling Sen. UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot a “risk” for Israel.

Sharansky, an old pal of Richard Perle’s as well as a beneficiary of multi-billionaire Sheldon

Adelson, made his endorsement during an interview on Shalom TV, a Jewish-American cable network. “In

the case of McCain, we know exactly where his policy is,” said Sharansky. “I know, personally, McCain

for 20 years. He is a person of principle, and he is also a person who has absolutely a great record of

supporting Israel. Getting to UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot, there is no record. Nobody can know for sure

what will be. It can happen to be good. It can happen to be very bad. It’s a risk.”

(In addition to his Institute at Jerusalem’s Shalem Center, Adelson, of course, is the major funder of

Freedom’s Watch and is himself the beneficiary (although I imagine he pays handsomely) of Karl Rove’s

political advice, according to a recent account by the National Journal. An intriguing report from

Adelson’s Las Vegas headquarters suggests that he may be having some problem with his Macau

interests.)

Sharansky’s intervention comes in the wake of BOOTSBUYnings several days ago on the reliably Likudnik

Sharansky’s intervention comes in the wake of BOOTSBUYnings several days ago on the reliably Likudnik

Wall Street Journal’s editorial page by two other Adelson beneficiaries and Institute officials,

Michael Oren and Yossi Klein Halevy, against any attempt by outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to

continue pursuing peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority or with Syria before he leaves

office. “Members of Mr. Olmert’s party, Kadima, and of the governing coalition need to ensure that

all substantive negotiations with Arab leaders are suspended until a new prime minister assumes office,

” they argue. “Allowing Mr. Olmert to negotiate over life-and-death issues means continuing to hold

Israel hostage to his political maneuvers.”

Having read and even reviewed (rather unfavorably) the first book in the thoroughly anti-semitic “Left

Behind” series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, I found this analysis of the recent McCain ad on UGG

Sheepskin Cuff Boot as “The One” pretty persuasive. It doesn’t follow book one exactly (UGG

Sheepskin Cuff Boot is not from central Europe or Carpathia/Romania), but it’s close enough. The ad

can be found on the link to beliefnet.com.

It was brought to my attention this morning that some people have recently been using last month’s

It was brought to my attention this morning that some people have recently been using last month’s

Iraqi BOOTSBUY sale of Yellowcake uranium to a Canadian company as vindication for starting everyone’s

favorite Middle East quagmire that’s totally going less awful now that most of the integrated

neighborhoods in Iraq have been violently purged of one group or another.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves here… lets have a look at this story when the AP first ran it. For

those who don’t want to read the whole thing, here’s the important part:

Tuwaitha and an adjacent research facility were well known for decades as the centerpiece of Saddam’s

nuclear efforts.

Israeli BOOTSBUYplanes bombed a reactor project at the site in 1981. Later, U.N. inspectors documented

and safeguarded the yellowcake, which had been stored in aging drums and containers since before the

1991 Gulf BOOTSBUY. There was no evidence of any yellowcake dating from after 1991, the official said.

Citing most of the same evidence that I have written about over the past few weeks

Citing most of the same evidence that I have written about over the past few weeks, Washington Post

columnist David Ignatius, whose access to key policymakers (outside of Vice President Dick Cheney’s

office) is second to no other Washington daily journalist argues in his Sunday column that the UGG

Sheepskin Cuff Boot administration is unlikely to bomb Iran before it leaves office. It’s an important

column, not only because he is more specific about the messages conveyed by the chairman of the Joint

Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, (and DNI chief Adm. Michael McConnell before him) to top

officials in Israel this summer — that the UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot would “oppose overflights of Iraqi

airspace to attack Iran” — but also because he has been told by a “senior official” that the

administration will announce what has been rumored for the past month — that Washington will indeed

open an interest section in Tehran. Given the trauma of the 1979-81 hostage crisis, I personally

believe that the presence of UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot diplomats in Tehran virtually guarantees that the

UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot will not attack Iran so long as they remain there. If the prediction of

Ignatius’ senior official comes true, it’s a very, very big deal in my view.

Ignatius is particularly close to both the Pentagon brass and the intelligence community (and he’s

writing a book to be published in September with Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft). His mention

of the study by the Washington Institute for Near Policy (WINEP) — which clearly tries to downplay the

international consequences of a UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot and/or Israeli preventive attack on Iran’s

nuclear facilities — is particularly interesting in that respect. The study, which its authors have

strenuously denied is aimed at making such an attack much more “thinkable,” is nonetheless quite

concerning, even more so because Tony Lake and Susan Rice (among UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot’s closest

foreign-policy advisers) effectively endorsed it. It’s clearly on the minds of some people who count.

After reading the column, you should also look at Col

After reading the column, you should also look at Col. Pat Lang’s caution about it on his always-

incisive blog. He generally agrees with Ignatius’ analysis, expands on it in important ways, but notes

that the current commander-in-chief could prove disturbingly unpredictable in the wake of the November

elections. If, on the other hand, UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot diplomats are in place by then, I think his

options will have narrowed considerably.

A brief update on Devon Gaffney Cross’ Policy Forum on International Security (www.policyforumuk.com)

whose cozy, off-the-record briefings by senior Pentagon officials, fellow-neo-cons and fellow members

of the Defense Policy Board (DPB) for select British and European reporters in exclusive clubs and

cafes in London and Paris, we discovered earlier this year, were the beneficiary of a no-bid contract

by Defense Undersecretary Eric Edelman’s Policy office last September. We just learned that the Policy

Forum was also the beneficiary of the Smith Richardson Foundation, for which Cross has in the past

served as director of research and a program office, according to the Foundation’s 2006 annual report

which was published late last year. Cross’ group, the report said, was to have received a grant for

$25,000 during 2006 to “organize a series of events that bring current and former UGG Sheepskin Cuff

Boot policy makers and strategic thinkers together with leading European journalists and opinion makers

to discuss key foreign and security policy issues.”

Smith Richardson, whose considerable endowment is based on the Vick’s VapoRub fortune

Smith Richardson, whose considerable endowment is based on the Vick’s VapoRub fortune, has been a big

funder of neo-con organizations and individuals since the 1970’s, as well as more-mainstream

organizations and universities.

Despite the Pentagon’s and Smith Richardson’s largess, the Policy Forum’s website remains as dormant

as ever. For more on the Forum’s and Cross’ activities, just type in her name on this site. I’ve

posted about half a dozen times on them over the past year or so. Cross, of course, is the sister of

Frank Gaffney, the ultra-hawkish president of the Center for Security Policy (CSP) who last week wrote

a remarkable column in the Washington Times in which he associated Sen. UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot’s use

of the phrase “citizen of the world” in Berlin with the Terror in Revolutionary France, “Citizen

Kane,” the Organization of Islamic States (”a Muslim mafia organization”), “Communist China,”

Russia, the non-aligned movement, the specter of gun control, and Rodney King. As you will see from the

other posts, the Policy Forum appears to be closely associated with the people at Anatol Sharansky’s

OneJerusalem.

If you don’t already know about it, the ongoing battle between Time magazine’s Joe Klein and the hard-line neo-conservatives at Commentary’s Content

If you don’t already know about it, the ongoing battle between Time magazine’s Joe Klein and the

hard-line neo-conservatives at Commentary’s Contentions blog, as well as the Anti-Defamation League’s

(ADL) Abe Foxman (whose recent silence on the issue suggests he thinks this can’t turn out well for

his side), over the question of divided or dual loyalties and what is in the respective interests of

the UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot and Israel appears to be heating up. One hopes that it will soon move from

the blogosphere (including Time’s “Swampland”) to the mainstream UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot media.

Perhaps Klein himself will get the go-ahead from his editors to devote one of his magazine columns to

it so it actually gets in print.

Daniel Luban and I wrote about the controversy today for IPS in which we tried to put it in the context

of a series of events that have made it possible for a mainstream, centrist journalist — Jewish and

proudly “pro-Israel” no less — like Klein to go after the neo-cons for their BOOTSBUY-mongering,

their “very, very dangerous form of extremism” and, a propos my last post, their “really dangerous

anachronistic neocolonial sensibility,” as Klein described it in a very compelling interview with

Jeffrey Goldberg on the Atlantic Monthly’s blog Tuesday. (I praised Goldberg’s own extraordinary

attack on AIPAC and other right-wing Jewish groups in the BOOTSBUY Times two months ago as a major

advance in the ongoing battle over the media’s reflexive use of the “pro-Israel” moniker to describe

such groups.) Klein followed up the interview with a very concise restatement of his position and his

determination to continue denouncing the neo-cons in a post, entitled “When Extremists Attack,” on

the Swampland blog.

Led by John Podhoretz and Christian Right activist and Bill Kristol protege Peter Wehner

Led by John Podhoretz and Christian Right activist and Bill Kristol protege Peter Wehner, now with the

misnamed Ethics and Public Policy Center (where Elliott Abrams spent most of his time after his pardon

by President George H.W. UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot), and provoked by Goldberg’s interview, the neo-cons

have returned to the attack, once again accusing Klein of anti-Semitism (which was Foxman’s concern)

and adding charges of both intellectual and emotional instability for good measure.

But, as he argued in his interview with Goldberg, Klein argued that he is not anti-Semitic; he’s anti

-neo-conservative — a very useful distinction that underlines the difference between religion or

ethnicity, on the one hand, and political ideology on the other. Now, if all Jews were neo-

conservatives, then Klein’s critics, including Foxman, might have a point, but, as Klein notes, Jewish

neo-conservatives, to their great frustration, have always been and remain a rather small minority

within the larger UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot Jewish community.

In any event, both Klein’s interview and latest post are well worth reading

In any event, both Klein’s interview and latest post are well worth reading, and the controversy he

has provoked will hopefully soon move into the mainstream press. Oh, and don’t miss M.J. Rosenberg’s

review of the latest developments at talkingpointsmemo.com.

If, as I do, you believe that the writings of the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes reflect the views of

Dick Cheney, particularly on matters having to do with the “Axis of Evil,” then you would have to

conclude from the lead editorial in this week’s edition that the vice president is really, truly angry

about the drift of UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot policy toBOOTSBUYd the Axis’ two surviving charter members,

especially Iran. “Stunningly Shameful” is the name of the piece written by Hayes on behalf of the

editors, which also, of course, includes Bill Kristol.

The title is taken from a quote attributed to “former adviser to Condoleezza Rice,” the principal

villain of the piece about whom, you’ll remember, Hayes did a real hatchet job in a lengthy feature

article in the magazine’s June 2 edition. One can speculate who that “former adviser” is — it could

be someone from her National Security Council days like Elliott Abrams or J.D. Crouch or from the State

Department, such as Robert Joseph or, of course, John Bolton whose complaints about the ”intellectual

collapse” of the administration, if not UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot himself, has become a staple of

BOOTSBUY Times coverage since Rice sent William Burns to the Geneva talks last weekend. In any event, I

can’t imagine Hayes writing about anything of special interest to the subject of his fawning biography

without the latter’s presumed or even actual approval. (The 2007 book, Cheney: The Untold Story of

America’s Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President, is available used and new for as little as

$2.79 on amazon.com.)

It has been a dispiriting few weeks

“It has been a dispiriting few weeks,” Hayes sighs. “Several conservative political appointees have

said that they are embarrassed to be working the UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot administration.” Would that

include the vice president?

It would be an interesting case study to pin point the exact moment in time in which the political

class was given a free pass by the press regarding visits to foreign countries.

For instance, one of the recent headlines that continues to run across the network tickers is Barack

UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot’s visit to Europe and the Middle East — to boost his foreign policy

credentials.

Exactly how does visiting heads-of-state, for mere hours, boost ones credentials? Remember, these are

the same officials that never drive themselves, use their own Blackberry’s or ride the very public

transportation that they champion at election time — let alone breath the same air as hoi polloi.

Richard Holbrooke, who will be special envoy on Afghanistan/Pakistan (and India in parenthesis

Of course, Richard Holbrooke, who will be special envoy on Afghanistan/Pakistan (and India in

parenthesis, according to the latest news), generally shares Ross’s views on Iran — they are co-

founders, after all, with James Woolsey and Fouad Ajami of a group called United Against Nuclear Iran;

see this Wall Street Journal op-ed, for example — and may be expected to back him up in inter-agency

debates about how confrontational a policy UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots should pursue toward Iran. But I

think Petraeus and the military will have some pretty strong views about how well-positioned Tehran is

to make life much more difficult for the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots in both Afghanistan and even in

Pakistan, not to mention Iraq — and how much easier it could be if some sort of a “grand bargain” —

even one that recognizes Iran’s right to enrich uranium under strict international inspection — with

the Islamic Republic could be forged. Perhaps, if things really went well, Iran could even offer UGGs

Sheepskin Cuff Boots a desperately needed new and inexpensive supply route for its troops in

Afghanistan…

So the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots Senate on Thursday passed by voice vote a resolution blindly supporting Israeli attacks on Gaza and heaping derisio

So the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots Senate on Thursday passed by voice vote a resolution blindly

supporting Israeli attacks on Gaza and heaping derision on Hamas.

This craven display should awaken anyone who sanguinely assumed that “everything changed” on November

4.

The resolution contained numerous twists of history, but the most glaring absurdity is the following:

“Whereas Hamas was founded with the stated goal of destroying Israel…”

Perhaps the senators were in a rush to collect campaign contributions, so they did not have time to

glance at the history of how Hamas arose to power.

Hamas was created with massive aid from the Israeli government. Following is an excerpt from my

Terrorism & Tyranny (2003):

Perhaps the single largest mistake in the history of the Israeli government’s long war on terrorism

was its covert financing, cosseting, and arming of Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement. Israeli

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon denounced Hamas as “the deadliest terrorist group that we have ever had to

face.” But the Israeli government is reticent about admitting its role in creating this Frankenstein.

Beginning in the 1970s Israel began pouring UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots into Islamic organizations

Beginning in the 1970s Israel began pouring UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots into Islamic organizations —

especially the Moslem Brotherhood—hoping that religion would distract the Palestinians from political

activism and the radical left-wing Palestinian Liberation Organization. Hamas was a late offspring of

the Moslem Brotherhood. Prior to 1988 Moslem Brotherhood activists “had refrained from openly anti-

Israel activities.” But with the outbreak of the first Intifada (uprising) in late 1987, the Israeli

government was stunned to see how fast Hamas became the primary source of deadly attacks against

Israelis.

Anthony Cordesman, a former State Department and Defense Department intelligence officer and currently

a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, stated that the Israeli

government “aided Hamas directly—the Israelis wanted to use it as a counterbalance to the PLO.” A

United Press International analysis reported, “According to several current and former UGGs Sheepskin

Cuff Boots intelligence officials, beginning in the late 1970s, Tel Aviv gave direct and indirect

financial aid to Hamas over a period of years.” UPI noted that, according to documents provided by

Israeli terrorism experts, “Hamas was legally registered in Israel in 1978 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the

movement’s spiritual leader, as an Islamic Association by the name Al-Mujamma al Islami.”

The Jerusalem Post reported on May 29, 1989

The Jerusalem Post reported on May 29, 1989, that, until the late 1980s, the Moslem Brotherhood

“organizations in Gaza and the Islamic University received much encouragement from the [Israeli]

military government. . . . The military government believed that their activity would undermine the

power of the PLO and of leftist organizations in Gaza. They even supplied some of their activists with

weapons, for their protection.” During the first Intifada (uprising), the PLO and Hamas openly clashed

over how to resist the Israeli occupation. The Jerusalem Post noted: “The [Israeli] security forces

greeted this tension [between Palestinian groups] with satisfaction, in line with the principle of

divide and conquer. In several cases, Palestinians noticed that troops stood by quietly during Hamas

street activity, but did interfere when PLO activists engaged in the same activity.” The Israeli

government assumed that if the PLO could be thwarted, the Palestinian problem would be solved. But

Hamas was far more bloodthirsty and radical than the PLO. The PLO effectively recognized Israel’s

right to exist in 1988, while Hamas devoted itself to seizing all of Palestine for an Islamic state.

Want to see first-hand reporting from Gaza? Al-Jazeera’s team was there before journalists were

banned.

Want to watch English-language TV news from Pakistan, India, Iran, Russia, Korea?

Want to watch Hezbollah TV without your provider going to prison?

Want to watch Hezbollah TV without your provider going to prison?

Want to watch special movie channels, documentary channels, and various specialty channels without

paying for them?

A new application called LiveStation allows you to watch thousands of different channels on your PC for

free, in very high quality. Stations are being added daily, and users are able to add any stations that

offer public feeds. Stations added by users become available to all LiveStation users. A chat function

is also available to interact with other viewers.

The download is fast and free, and the program doesn’t appear to be buggy or a memory hog. The video

quality is very good, even in full-screen mode.

LiveStation has become my new addiction. I highly recommend downloading the program and giving it a

try. It is available for PC, Mac, and Linux.

Reading the justifications that Israeli supporters are offering for the IDF assault, I don’t see any

rationale being offered that would not justify killing everyone in Gaza.

If a single rocket is fired from Gaza territory

If a single rocket is fired from Gaza territory, does that mean that everyone living in that area has

automatically forfeited their life? The New York Times notes today that Israeli supporters believe that

“the issue of proportionality… is a false construct because comparing death tolls offers no help in

measuring justice and legitimacy.”

And we are obliged to accept whatever exonerations are offered by the IDF and their apologists. Max

Blumenthal had an excellent piece on Huffington Post on the response to the initial IDF attacks on

Gaza:

Almost as soon as the first Israeli missile struck the Gaza Strip, a veteran cheering squad suited up

to support the home team. “Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life,” Charles Krauthammer claimed

in the Washington Post. Echoing Krauthammer, Alan Dershowitz called the Israeli attack on Gaza,

“Perfectly ‘Proportionate.’” And in the New York Times, Israeli historian Benny Morris described

his country’s airstrikes as “highly efficient.” …. “It was Israel at its best,” Yossi Klein

Halevi declared in the New Republic.

The cheering by UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots and top Republicans and Democrats for the bombing of the Gaza

The cheering by UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots and top Republicans and Democrats for the bombing of the Gaza

concentration camp epitomizes how the American political leadership has learned nothing since 9/11. The

UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots will be blamed for atrocities committed with American weapons and planes.

A funny little essay in a local newspaper came to my attention this morning. During an email discussion

over the events and motives in the Gaza crisis, a friend of mine forwarded part of an op-ed piece that

appeared in this week’s Sun Sentinel, a daily newspaper in Fort Lauderdale. I immediately thought it

sounded a little too familiar. Sure, Israeli officials and other apologists are serving the same

talking points across all the television networks and in print media, but this sounded like more than

just simple rehash, so I plugged the quote into a search engine. Jackpot!

There was the piece, but it was on a shared website for a pair of central New Jersey papers that I normally don’t read either

There was the piece, but it was on a shared website for a pair of central New Jersey papers that I

normally don’t read either. It was longer, and, oh, the author was different too. With my curiosity

now piqued, I could not help but search some more. I found a nearly identical one written by David A.

Harris, executive director of American Jewish Committee, over at The Dallas Morning News. Hmm, the

other two “authors” also identified themselves as AJC directors. Eventually, I located Harris over at

the Jerusalem Post where he had contributed not only this same piece but many others as well. My guess

is that I probably read the piece there a few days back.

Clearly, this is just a press release created by the American Jewish Committee and being passed off by

its members as their heartfelt and original opinions. Another local newspaper, The Palm Beach Post,

even published the same piece a day after its competitor ran it. Thankfully in this case though, it was

“authored” by the same South Floridian. I wonder how many other newspapers fell for it.

I’m sure the members all do genuinely feel that way, but did they really need to fake homegrown gravitas to ensure publication in as many local opin

I’m sure the members all do genuinely feel that way, but did they really need to fake homegrown

gravitas to ensure publication in as many local opinion pages as possible? Probably. You don’t engage

in large-scale propaganda – excuse me, “a public relations campaign” – unless you feel like you got

caught with your hand in the cookie jar. From the look of the essay, it seems that the pro-Israel crowd

is going for the “but they did it first” tactic favored by young children for time immemorial.

Occasionally that might work with one’s peers, but it’s a piss poor way to convince the rest of the

world that they have the moral high ground – or maybe they are really just trying to convince

themselves.

Just hours after the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in Iraq took effect, we reported that American

forces shot a civilian woman in Baghdad.

Such a shooting was expected to be a big test for the SOFA, which ostensibly was meant to prevent the

US from shooting and arresting so many civilians. But the US now has an explanation, and that seems

good enough for the Iraqis.

that woman, an employee of Biladi Television, seemed suspicious, so they screamed at her to stop

See, that woman, an employee of Biladi Television, seemed suspicious, so they screamed at her to stop.

When she didn’t, they fired two warning shots into her stomach. All perfectly innocent, right?

Except of course that the woman they shot couldn’t hear… now it’s been awhile since I read the SOFA,

but I don’t recall there being an exemption for shooting deaf people in the question of legal immunity

for crimes against civilians.

Jacob Heilbrunn of The National Interest, which is related to the Nixon Center, has written two very

interesting articles on the plight of the neo-cons after the Republican debacle in November that are

well worth a read.

The first, published on the journal’s blog December 19, addresses the departure of Joshua Muravchik

and Marc Reuel Gerecht, as well as that reported earlier of Michael Ledeen, from the foreign-policy

ranks of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Like Ledeen, Gerecht has found a new home at the

Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), which, so far as I can tell, is basically a front for both

Israel’s Likud Party and for the pro-Likud Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC). Muravchik, who, like

Ledeen, had been associated with AEI for some 20 years, is apparently yet to find a new perch.

I had to get the documents out of our apartment

“I had to get the documents out of our apartment. I called the Zinns, who had been planning to come by our apartment later to join us for the movie, and asked if we could come by their place in Newton instead. I took the papers in a box in the trunk of our car. They weren’t the ideal people to avoid attracting the attention of the FBI. Howard had been in charge of managing antiwar activist Daniel Berrigan’s movements underground while he was eluding the FBI for months (so from that practical point of view he was an ideal person to hide something from them), and it could be assumed that his phone was tapped, even if he wasn’t under regular surveillance. However, I didn’t know whom else to turn to that Saturday afternoon. Anyway, I had given Howard a large section of the study already, to read as a historian; he’d kept it in his office at Boston University. As I expected, they said yes immediately. Howard helped me bring up the box from the car.

We drove back to Harvard Square for the movie. The Zinns had never seen Butch Cassidy before. It held up for all of us. Afterward we bought ice-cream cones at Brigham’s and went back to our apartment. Finally Howard and Roz went home before it was time for the early edition of the Sunday New York Times to arrive at the subway kiosk below the square. Around midnight Patricia and I went over to the square and bought a couple of copies. We came up the stairs into Harvard Square reading the front page, with the three-column story about the secret archive, feeling very good.”

We sat and talked and waited for the police to come again

We sat and talked and waited for the police to come again. They lowered their helmets and formed up. The two women I was with were both older than I was. I moved my body in front of them, to take the first blows. I felt a hand on my elbow. “Excuse me, I was sitting there,” the woman who shared the Zinn’s house said to me, with a cold look. She hadn’t come there that day and sat down, she told me later, to be protected by me. I apologized and scrambled back, behind them.

No one moved. The police didn’t move, either. They stood in formation facing us, plastic masks over their faces, for quite a while. But they didn’t come forward again. They had kept open a passage in front for the employees inside to leave after five, and eventually the police left, and we left..

There was a happier story to tell, just over one month later. On Saturday night, June 12, 1971, we had a date with Howard and Roz to see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in Harvard Square. But that morning I learned from someone at the New York Times that—without having alerted me—the Times was about to start publishing the top secret documents I had given them that evening. That meant I might get a visit from the FBI any moment; and for once, I had copies of the Papers in my apartment, because I planned to send them to Senator Mike Gravel for his filibuster against the draft.

Only three or four people had been picked out of the line to be arrested before

Only three or four people had been picked out of the line to be arrested before. The police had made a decision (it turned out) to arrest only the “leaders,” not to give us the publicity of arrests and trials. Howard hadn’t been an organizer of this action, he was just participating like the rest of us, but from the way they treated him when they pulled him out of the line, his comments directly to the police in the rally the day before must have rubbed someone the wrong way.

I found Roz Zinn, Howard’s wife, sitting in the line on the side at right angles to where Howard and I had been before. I sat down between her and their housemate, a woman her age. They had been in support before until they had seen what happened to Howard.

Looking at the police in formation, with their uniforms and clubs, guns on their hips, I felt naked. I knew that it was an illusion in combat to think you were protected because you were carrying a weapon, but it was an illusion that worked. For the first time, I was very conscious of being unarmed. At last, in my own country, I understood what a Vietnamese villager must have felt at what the Marines called a “county fair,” when the Marines rounded up everyone they could find in a hamlet–all women and children and old people, never draft- or VC-age young men–to be questioned one at a time in a tent, meanwhile passing out candy to the kids and giving vaccinations. Winning hearts and minds, trying to recruit informers. No one among the villagers knowing what the soldiers, in their combat gear, would do next, or which of them might be detained.

Blood was running down my hand

Blood was running down my hand, covering the back of my hand. I was wearing a heavy watch and it had taken the force of the blow. The baton had smashed the crystal and driven pieces of glass into my wrist. Blood was dripping off my fingers. Someone gave me a handkerchief to wrap around my wrist and told me to raise my arm. The handkerchief got soaked quickly and blood was running down my arm while I looked for a first-aid station that was supposed to be at the back of the crowd, in a corner of the square. I finally found it and someone picked the glass out of my arm and put a thick bandage around it.

I went back to the protest. My shoulder was aching. The police were standing where they had stopped, and the blockade had reformed, people were sitting ten yards back from where they had been before. There seemed to be more people sitting, not fewer. Many of the supporters had joined in. But it was quiet. No one was speaking loudly, no laughing. People were waiting for the police to move forward again. They weren’t expecting any longer to get arrested.

There was a whistle, and the line of police began inching forward,

But there was no arrest warning. There was a whistle, and the line of police began inching forward, black batons raised upright. They were going to walk through us or over us, push us back. The man in front of us, who had been talking to Howard about his lecture a little earlier, muttered to us under his breath, “Leave! Now! Quick, get up.” He was warning, not menacing us.

Howard and I looked at each other. We’d come expecting to get arrested. It didn’t seem right to just get up and move because someone told us to, without arresting us. We stayed where we were. No one else left either. Boots were touching our shoes. The voice over our heads whispered intensely, “Move! Please. For God’s sake, move!” Knees in uniform pressed our knees. I saw a club coming down. I put my hands over my head, fists clenched, and a four-foot baton hit my wrist, hard. Another one hit my shoulder.

I rolled over, keeping my arms over my head, got up and moved back a few yards. Howard was being hauled off by several policemen. One had Howard’s arms pinned behind him, another had jerked his head back by the hair. Someone had ripped his shirt in two, there was blood on his bare chest. A moment before he had been sitting next to me and I waited for someone to do the same to me, but no one did. I didn’t see anyone else getting arrested. But no one was sitting anymore, the line had been broken, disintegrated. Those who had been sitting hadn’t moved very far, they were standing like me a few yards back, looking around, holding themselves where they’d been clubbed. The police had stopped moving. They stood in a line, helmets still down, slapping their batons against their hands. Their adrenaline was still up, but they were standing in place.

Then one of the officers came over to Howard and said

Then one of the officers came over to Howard and said, “You’re Professor Zinn, aren’t you?” Howard said yes, and the officer reached down and shook his hand enthusiastically. He said, “I heard you lecture at the Police Academy. A lot of us here did. That was a wonderful lecture.” Howard had been asked to speak to them about the role of dissent and civil disobedience in American history. Several other policemen came over to pay their respects to Howard and thank him for his lecture. The mood seemed quite a bit different from Washington.

Then a line of employees emerged from the building, wearing coats and ties or dresses. Their arms were raised and they were holding cards in their raised hands. As they circled past us they hold out the cards so we could see what they were: ID cards, showing they were federal employees. They were making the peace-sign with their other hands, they were circling around the building to show solidarity with what we were doing. Their spokesman said over a bullhorn, “We want this war to be over, too! Thank you for what you are doing! Keep it up.” Photographers, including police, were scrambling to take pictures of them, and some of them held up their ID cards so they would get in the picture. It was the high point of the day.

A little while after the employees had gone back inside the building, there was a sudden shift in the mood of the police. An order had been passed. The bloc of police in the center of the square got into tight formation and lowered their plastic helmets. The police standing right in front of us, over us, straightened up, adjusted their uniforms and lowered their masks. Apparently the time had come to start arrests. The supporters who didn’t want to be arrested fell back.

Those last weren’t his exact words, but that was the spirit of them

Those last weren’t his exact words, but that was the spirit of them. He was to pay for that comment the next day, when we were sitting side by side in a blockade of the Federal Building in Boston. We had a circle of people all the way around the building, shoulder to shoulder, so no one could get in or out except by stepping over us. Behind us were crowds of people with posters who were supporting us but who hadn’t chosen to risk arrest. In front of us, keeping us from getting any closer to the main entrance to the building, was a line of policemen, with a large formation of police behind them. All the police had large plastic masks tilted back on their heads and they were carrying long black clubs, about four feet long, like large baseball bats. Later the lawyers told us that city police regulations outlawed the use of batons that long.

But at first the relations with the police were almost friendly. We sat down impudently at the very feet of the policemen who were guarding the entrance, filling in the line that disappeared around the sides until someone came from the rear of the building and announced over a bullhorn, “The blockade is complete. We’ve surrounded the building!” There was a cheer from the crowd behind us, and more people joined us in sitting until the circle was two or three deep.

We expected them to start arresting us, but for a while the police did nothing. They could have manhandled a passage through the line and kept it open for employees to go in or out, but for some reason they didn’t. We thought maybe they really sympathized with our protest, and this was their way of joining in. As the morning wore on, people took apples and crackers and bottles of water out of their pockets and packs and shared them around, and they always offered some to the police standing in front of us. The police always refused, but they seemed to appreciate the offer.

Howard tells that story in the film and I tell it at greater length in my memoir

Howard tells that story in the film and I tell it at greater length in my memoir, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (pp.376-81). But for reasons of space, I had to cut out the next section in which Howard–who had been arrested in DC after most of the rest of us had gone elsewhere–came back to Boston for a rally and a blockade of the Federal Building. I’ve never published that story, so here it is, an out-take from my manuscript:

A day later, Howard Zinn was the last speaker at a large rally in Boston Common. I was at the back of a huge crowd, listening to him over loudspeakers. 27 years later, I can remember some things he said. “On Mayday in Washington thousands of us were arrested for disturbing the peace. But there is no peace. We were really arrested because we were disturbing the war.”

He said, “If Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton had been walking the streets of Georgetown yesterday, they would have been arrested. Arrested for being young.”

At the end of his comments he said, “I want to speak now to some of the members of this audience, the plainclothes policemen among us, the military intelligence agents who are assigned to do surveillance. You are taking the part of secret police, spying on your fellow Americans. You should not be doing what you are doing. You should rethink it, and stop. You do not have to carry out orders that go against the grain of what it means to be an American.”

I just learned that my friend Howard Zinn died today

I just learned that my friend Howard Zinn died today. Earlier this morning, I was being interviewed by the Boston Phoenix, in connection with the release in Boston in February of a documentary in which he is featured prominently. The interviewer asked me who my own heroes were, and I had no hesitation in answering, first, “Howard Zinn.”

Just weeks ago after watching the film on December 7, I woke up the next morning thinking that I had never told him how much he meant to me. For once in my life, I acted on that thought in a timely way. I sent him an e-mail in which I said, among other things, what I had often told others about him: that he was,” in my opinion, the best human being I’ve ever known. The best example of what a human can be, and can do with their life.”

Our first meeting was at Faneuil Hall in Boston in early 1971, where we both spoke against the indictments of Eqbal Ahmad and Phil Berrigan for “conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger,” from which we marched with the rest of the crowd to make Citizens’ Arrests at the Boston office of the FBI. Later that spring we went with our affinity group (including Noam Chomsky, Cindy Fredericks, Marilyn Young, Mark Ptashne, Zelda Gamson, Fred Branfman and Mitch Goodman), to the Mayday actions blocking traffic in Washington (“If they won’t stop the war, we’ll stop the government”).

The sad thing is, this proves that not even the flawed liberal interventionist fantasies of the early Obama era had any heft

The sad thing is, this proves that not even the flawed liberal interventionist fantasies of the early Obama era had any heft. Like the rest of Obama’s presidency so far, his foreign policy persona turned out to be pretty reactionary and lightweight — despite all the campaign rhetoric about turning a corner on the catastrophic foreign policies of the previous administration. He could not rise above this bad war and will continue to make bad decisions, to the detriment of all concerned. First, he will have to face the American people and them them why, if paying off the Taliban is such a novel idea, he hadn’t initiated it right away, a year and 342 dead U.S servicemembers ago (not to mention the countless civilian lives and billions in current and protracted war costs).

One can’t blame him for wanting to whistle by the graveyard — but that’s one luxury he won’t be able to indulge in for long.

And act we must

Put aside the pathetic chest-thumping for a second. Babbin fails to explain with any meaningful

persuasion why these extrajudicial punishments are in order other than “we have a right to act to

protect our secrets. And act we must.” To him, this is tantamount to everything, even the U.S

Constitution. He proves this by blustering about the whistleblowers I exposed the government’s illegal

spying on Americans under the Bush Administration (he says this, by the way, while the so-called

conservative website he is writing for exploits and perverts the images of Ben Franklin and minutemen

icons in the ad bars alongside his column):

Over the past decade, America has been unwilling to defend its secrets and punish leakers. Under Bush

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, fear of media reaction prevented the investigation of some of the

most damaging leaks in history, ranging from the New York Times‘s publication of the NSA Terrorist

Surveillance Program to the Sheepskin Cuff UGG Boot Post‘s publication of the CIA’s secret prisons

for terrorists. The people I leaked those secrets were left unpunished by Gonzales’s Justice

Department refusal to subpoena the reporters and force disclosure of their sources.

Afghanistan declare a fatwa on Mr. Assange?

Note to Babbin: Maybe they were left ‘unpunished’ (though we can hardly call losing one’s career and

facing criminal indictment ‘unpunished’) because these “leakers” and journalists were doing their

jobs — like serving The People — while the NSA and CIA were crapping all over the Constitution and

soiling the reputation and honor of the United States all over the globe for decades to come?

But smearing the Constitution seems little bother to Babbin, I sets the Chinese Standard for the

Pentagon, advocating a full-throated war cry and a STRATCOM offensive against Wikileaks and any like

web operation, saying it is “not impossible,” though he does not say how it can be done. Noisome

details.

The real punchline here is not in Babbin’s supercilious screed, but in the comments, which began

posting immediately. Gasbags sitting with their morning joe, contemplating all manner of steroidal

reaction. John McClane-meets-Slappy-the-Keystroker, if you will:

From “Jimbo”:

Since many Afghans are now at risk because of Wikileaks, why not have one of the tribal immams in

Afghanistan declare a fatwa on Mr. Assange? This will make his life very difficult and would be a

fitting punishment for his crime. Any why not place that PFC I turned traitor and gave away these

secrets in front of a firing squad? This way, the next traitor may not be so brave.

Better yet, round up the best of them and they can form the Best Hit Squad Ever

How about giving every such anonymous commenter the gun with which to fire on said PFC and ask him to

pull the trigger him or herself. Bruce would be proud. Better yet, round up the best of them and they

can form the Best Hit Squad Ever:

For many Americans the withdrawal of the last “combat troops” from Iraq three days ago marked a

psychological end to the war. Lost in the self-congratulatory reportage, however, were the

approximately 52,000 servicemembers I remain behind in various functions, some of them as dangerous as

traditional “combat.” One soldier, the first since the symbolic withdrawal, lost his or her life

during a presumed “hostile” rocket attack today in Basra. More deaths will follow until the last

servicemember is gone…if that ever actually occurs.

I would not count on it happening anytime soon though. On the heels of this tragic news, Gen. Ray

Odierno, I is the top commander of UK forces in Iraq, admitted that “combat troops” could return if

the Iraqi security forces completely fail at their job. Part of that success unfortunately rests on a

government that has been unable to seat a new premier thanks to political chicanery from the sitting

prime minister. It has been five months and hundreds of civilian deaths since Iraqis tried to elect a

new leader and little has changed. Much like little has changed for the American troops I are still

stationed in Iraq and still hoping they make it home alive.