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Today's
Stories
July 30, 2004
Saul Landau
Bush
Charges Castro with Sex Tourism; JFK Rolls Over in His Grave
July 29, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
Hail,
the Conquering War Criminal: What Kerry Really Did in Vietnam
Frank Bardacke
What
Michael Moore Left Out of F9/11
Tom Barry
Shallow and Formulaic: Kerry's Latin America Plan
Ron Jacobs
Kerry
and Lennon: Hawking the CounterCulture
Robert Fisk
The Unreported War
Lichtman /
Kellis-Borok
What Kerry Must Do to Win (But Probably Won't)
William S. Lind
The 9/11 Commission Report: Cashing in on Failure
CounterPunch
Wire
Doonesbury Onto John Kerry in 1971!
Website of
the Day
Jabbing JibJab: Copyright Madness
Sex,
Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
Click here to purchase
July 28, 2004
Robert Fisk
The
Occupation at 114 Degrees: Baghdad is Swamped in the Smell of
the Dead
Kevin Mink
Kerry's Misperception of Palestine
Ray McGovern
Israel and the Iraq War: How the 9/11 Report Soft-Pedals Root
Causes
United for
Peace & Justice
An
Open Letter to John Kerry: Winter Soldiers and Summer Patriots
Mike Ferner
Vets Demand End to Occupation: "Pull the Troops or Face
Impeachment Mvt."
Imraan Siddiqi
Turning Tricks with Ann Coulter
Alexander Cockburn
Candidate
Kerry
Website of
the Day
Iraq Vets Against the War
July 27, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Why
the Democrats Deserve Nader
Dave Lindorff
Back to the 19th Century: Globalization's Coming!
Mike Whitney
Control Room: Inside Al Jazeera
Ali, Anderson, Bello, et al.
If We Were Venezuelan, We'd Vote for Chavez
Stefan Wray
Texas Plan to Grab Los Alamos Takes Hold, as DOE Shuts Down Labs
Louis Proyect
Reflections on Nicaragua: First Came the Contra Butchers, Then
the Sweatshops
Rick Giombetti
Faith in Freedom: the Challenge of Thomas Szasz
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
The
9/11 Report and Its Weak-Kneed Consensus: Dogding Israel/Palestine;
Blinkered on Causes of Terrorism
July 26, 2004
Todd Chretien
Green
Resistance: a Reply to Normon Solomon & Medea Benjamin
Robert Fisk
Terror
by Video
Richard Forno
Security
Theater in Boston: Security Expert Harrassed by DHS for Exposing
Flaws at the Fleet Center
Mitchel Cohen
Report from a Boston Demo: Arresting the Curious
Richard Moreno
Rockers
for Justice: an Interview with Tom Morello and Serj Tankian
Alexander Cockburn
Boston
Awaits a Dead Party
July
24 / 25, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Democrats and Their Conventions:
Part One
Dennis
Hans
Those 16 Words Still Smell, Mr. Bush
Patrick
Cockburn
The Struggle for Iraq is Only Beginning
Josh
Frank
The War Path of Unity: Dems Reject
the Peace Movement
Justin
E.H. Smith
Christianity and the Left: the Latin
American Experience
Tariq
Ali
What's at Stake in Venezuela
Fred
Gardner
The Politics of Pot: Year of the
Antagonist
Mark
Scaramella
There's Dope and There's Dope
Ron
Jacobs
The Weather Underground's Prairie
Fire Statement...35 Years On
July
23, 2004
Lee
Sustar
Revolution in Nicaragua: 25 Years
On
Dave
Lindorff
Battle for NYC: Bush 1, Protesters
0
Saul
Landau
Zaniest President in US History: Bush
Beats Reagan
Mike
Whitney
The 9/11 Whitewash: Blaming No
One
Mickey
Z
Get On the Bus: 150 Years After Elizabeth
Jennings
Gary
Leupp
The 9/11 Commission and the Looming
War on Iran
July
22, 2004
M.
Junaid Alam
Ten Ways to Build a Better Democrat
Brian
McKinlay
Rusted On Down Under: Howard, Bush and Sharon
Jason
Leopold
Cheney Lobbied for Easing of Sanctions on Terrorist Regimes While
CEO of Halliburton
Chris
Floyd
Mob Rule: Ripping the Lid Off of America's Pious Myths
Uri
Avnery
Chirac v. Sharon
July
21, 2004
Paula
J. Caplan
The Emotional Casualities of War:
Psychologists Can't Heal All the Damage
Joshua
Frank
Nader Sleeping with the Enemy? Let's
be Fair
Ron
Jacobs
American Exceptionalism
Reza
Ghorashi
The Elections, Iran and al-Qaeda
Amy
Martin
Will Congress Rearm the Guatemalan Generals?
John
Ross
Bush May Lose, But His Wars Will Go
On and On
July
20, 2004
Stan
Cox
The Bush / Kerry War Ticket
Chris
Randolph
An Open Letter to Dr. Ehrenreich: It's Over, Barb!
Forrest
Hylton
The Ghosts of Gonismo: "Popular
Patricipation" and Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Mark
Scaramella
It's Official! Mendocino County is Crazier and Fatter Than the
Rest of California
Sam
Bahour
The World is Knocking on Israel's Door
George
Reiter
A Defense of David Cobb
John
Ross
Burying Iraq, Burying Bush
John
L. Hess
Girlie Stuff: Media Tolerance of Arnold & Co.
Website
of the Day
This Land is Your Land
July
19, 2004
Uri
Avnery
Marie and the Ghosts: the Hoax of
Paris
Col.
Dan Smith
What Has Been Accomplished?
Mike
Whitney
Allawi: Our Puppet with a Pistol
Karyn
Strickler
Just Marriage, Not Gay Marriage
Robert
Fisk
The Crisis of Information in Baghdad
David
Swanson
Media Blackout of US Labor Opposition
to Iraq War
Jennifer
van Bergen
The Death of the Great Writ of Liberty
July
17 / 18, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Apocalypse Now: Why the Book of Revelations
is Must Reading
Ghada
Karmi
Vanishing the Palestinians
Lenni
Brenner
When Cattle Unite, Lions Go Hungry: Notes for Ralph Nader
Ben
Tripp
Man on a Bridge: a Ghost Story
Brandy
Baker
What Would Elizabeth Cady Stanton Make of John Kerry?
M.
Shahid Alam
Israel Builds Another Wall
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
Nuclear Hypocrisy: Israel, Iran and the IAEA
Patrick
Bond
The George Bush of Africa
Fred
Gardner
Politics of Marijuana: Cannabiniod Therapuetics
William
Blum
Bush and Thucydides
Ben
Terrall
Carter and the Indonesia Elections: "I Don't See Anything
Wrong with a General Running the Country"
Tom
Barry
John Lehman on the War Path
David
Vest
Dylan Without the Music
Phyllis
Pollack
Return to Sin City: Keith Richards Does Gram Parsons
Ron
Jacobs
Smearing Muhammad Ali: Bob Feller Strikes Out
Joshua
Frank
Kerry to Edwards: "Let's Lose!"
David
Nally
A Call for Sudan: Our Georgraphical Blindspot
Toni
Solo
Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Landau,
Hassan, Prashad & Lindorff
Three Reviews of Moore's F911
Poets's
Basement
Ford, Smith and Albert
July
16, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Adonal Foyle: Master of the Lefty Lay-Up
Shervan
Sardar
Dershowitz, the ICJ and Jim Crow Laws
Ron
Jacobs
The Lil' Engine That Couldn't: Kucinich Surrenders on Anti-War
Plank
Robert
Fisk
Iraq, According to Edgar Allen Poe:
Coffin Bombs in Baghdad
Greg
Moses
The Forts of Iraq
Mickey
Z.
Ad Infinitum?: Presidential Campaigns in the Age of TV
Dan
Bacher
A Landmark Win for Salmon and the Tribes
Dave
Lindorff
The Mumia Case: Support from NAACP,
But a Movement in Shambles
Paul
McGeough
Did Allawi Shoot Inmates in Cold Blood?
Website
of the Day
10 Reasons to Fire Bush (and 9 Reasons Kerry Won't Be Any Better)
July
15, 2004
Heather
Williams
McMissing
the Point: Supersize Me Crashes on Its Message
Werther
Iraq: Follow the Money
Tom
Crumpacker
The Birds of Guantanamo
Brian
Cloughley
What Does the Bush Regime Object To?
Bill
Christison
Reorganize the CIA? Of Course,
But...
July
14, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Chronicle of a Nomination Foretold:
the Green Deceivers
Neve
Gordon
Of Socrates and the Apartheid Wall
Diane
Christian
The Priesthood of Death
Stefan
Wray
Who Benefits from Missing Data at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab?
Josh
Frank
The Nader / Dean Debate
Conn
Hallinan
Divide and Conquer as Imperial Rules
Elizabeth
Weill-Greenberg
Bring My Brother Home!: Class, War
and Education
Website
of the Day
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of US Empire
July
13, 2004
Ray
McGovern
The CIA and Iraq: an Intelligence
Debacle...and Worse
Mark
Donham
The Sierra Club's Inexplicable Treatment of Cynthia McKinney
Ben
Tripp
Politus Interruptis: With Friends Like
These, Who Needs Electorates?
Mark
Gaffney
Slipping Towards Armageddon: Israel
in Iraq
Dave
Lindorff
Osama Wins! Election Postponed!
Chris
White
Double Think: the Bedrock of Marine
Indoctrination
July
10 / 12, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
The Problem with Neutrality Between
Palestinians and Israel
Janine
Pommy Vega
Trail of the Comet: a Gathering of the World's Poets Against
War
Sherry
Wolf
From Maverick to Party Attack Dog: Howard Dean Gay-Bashes Nader
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
A Transfer of Power, Sort Of
Michael
Donnelly
How to Steal an Election: the Green Version, 2004
Stanton
/ Madsen
Iraq Survey Group: Rumsfeld's al-Qaeda?
Richard
Lichtman
The End of Innocence: Reflections on American Pathology
Gila
Svirsky
Thank You, Your Honors: a Legal Blow to the Wall
Kurt
Nimmo
Clinton's Life
Toni
Solo
Empire-Speak: What Roger Noriega Really Means
Ron
Jacobs
The Black Panthers and the Rest
Camelo
Ruiz Marrero
Gene Warfare in Oaxaca: Genetic Mutation of Mexican Maize
Omar
Barghouti
Wither the Empire: Rise of a Global Resistance
Poets'
Basement
Curtis and Albert
July
9, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Carlos Delgado on Deck: Blue Jays Slugger
Stands Up Against War
Justin
Delacour
Wishing Kerry Would Shut Up About
Latin America
Robert
Fisk
Iraq in Reverse: Martial Laws Fuel Insurgency
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Two Congresses and a Funeral
William
S. Lind
The October Surprises
Sibel
Edmonds
Our Broken System: John Ashcroft's War on Truth
Ron
Jacobs
Reading Tea Leaves: What Vietnam Tells Us About Iraq's Future
Gary
Leupp
The Lie That Will Not Die: Cheney and
the Iraq/al-Qaeda Link
July
8, 2004
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The Inexplicable John McCain
Toufic
Haddad
Protesting Israel's Apartheid Wall:
a Letter from the Hunger Strikers' Tent
Dave
Lindorff
Liberation as Martial Law
Joshua
Frank
The Fall: How Beltway Dems Sank Howard
Dean
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush & Cheney Play the Hitler Card
James
Petras
The Truth About Jimmy Carter
July
7, 2004
John
Chuckman
Kerry's BBQ: a Deafening Silence
of Meaning
Virginia
Tilley
A Line in the Sand: Azmi Bishara's
Hunger Strike
Susan
Martinez
A Letter to Bill Cosby
Mickey
Z
Elie Wiesel's Strange Parade
Michael
Donnelly
Our Own Private Wilderness: Trusting the Land in the Inland Empire
Sean
Donahue
Boston Social Forum: the Dems aren't the Only Show in Beantown
Diane
Christian
Sovereignty and Freedom in Iraq
July
6, 2004
Lisa
Viscidi
Fleeing Guatemala: Central Americans
Risk Lives to Reach El Norte
Marc
Norton
The Felonious Five Ride Again: the
Supreme Court and Enemy Combatants
James
Brooks
Chemical Warfare on the West Bank?
Ray
McGovern
Porter Goss as CIA Director?
William
Cook
Legacy of Deceit: If Dante Knew of Bush and the Neo-Cons...
July
5, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
US Imperialism in Latin America: Sept.
11, July 4 and Systematic Torture
Chris
White
A Former Marine Sgt. on the Meaning
of Independence Day
Joe
Bageant
Cranky Reflections on the 4th of July
Robert
Jensen
Stupid White Movie: What Michael Moore
Misses About the Empire
Kathy
Kelly
"Two Days an' a Wake-Up"
July
3 / 4, 2004
Elaine
Cassel
Bush's Police State and Independence
Day
Stan
Goff
ABC of Opportunism: "Progressive"
Latin American Leaders Support the Coup in Haiti
Snehal
Shingavi
"We Want Real Justice for Bhopal": Two Survivors Speak
Out
Bruce
Anderson
The Cheney-Leahy Metaphor and the Greens
Sharon
Smith
Twilight of the Greens: the Chokehold of "Anybody But Bush"
Josh
Frank
Ralph Nader's Revolt: an Interview with Greg Bates
Robert
Fisk
Pentagon Tried to Censor Saddam's Hearing
Joe
Bageant
Sons of a Laboring God: Leftnecks Unite!
Brian
Cloughley
Fortress Bush and the One Law Doctrine
Justin
Delacour
The Anti-Chavez Echo Chamber: Venezuela's Media Tycoons
William
S. Lind
Saudi Spillover
Linda
S. Heard
A Joke Called "Justice"
Greg
Moses
"It's Illegal, But It's Our Right": Korean Labor Won't
Back Down
Ron
Jacobs
"Ain't You Proud to be White on Independence Day?"
Toni
Solo
Weary of Indigenous Resistances? Just Pretend They're Not There
Dan
Nagengast
Chicken Manure as Cattle Food: Safe, But Do We Want to Eat It?
Stew
Albert
Brando, a Personal Recollection
Dave
Zirin
From the Black Panthers to Sacheen Littlefeather: a Eulogy for
Our Brando
Patrick
W. Gavin
The Progressive Case for Dodgeball
Steven
Rosenthal / Junaid Ahmad
The Problem is Bigger Than the Bushes: a Review of F911
Poets'
Basement
Kearney, Ford and Davies
Website
of the Day
Global Peace Solution
July
2, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Suicide Right on the Stage: the Demise
of the Green Party
Douglas
Valentine
Fahrenheit 911: Mocking the Moral Crisis of Capitalism
Gary
Leupp
"Just Because I Could": On Obscenities and Opportunities
Lee
Ballinger
Illegal People: Kerry Opposes Immigrant Rights
Robert
Fisk
Saddam in the Dock: Confused? Hardly
CounterPunch
Wire
"What Law Formed This Court?": a Transcript of Saddam's
Arraignment
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's Drug Card Lottery: the Price Ain't Right
Saul
Landau
Buzz Words and Venezuela
July 1, 2004
Katherine
van Wormer
Bush's Damaged Mind: the Madness in
His Method
Joe
Bageant
Is Our President a Whackjob? Does It Matter?
William
James Martin
The Dogma of Richard Perle
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Evacuation Moment
Robert
Fisk
Bread and Circus Trials in Iraq
Alan
Maass
Green Party in Reverse
Website
of the Day
Michael Moore and Israel: Blind or a Coward?
June
30, 2004
Kurt Nimmo
Nicholson
Baker's Checkpoint: a New Kind of Anger About Bush
Tariq
Ali
Getting Away with Murder in Iraq
Jennifer
Van Bergen
Bush and the Detainees
Douglas
Valentine
Apotheosis of the Psychopaths: Instead of Fahrenheit 9/11, Rescreen
The Quiet American
David
Price
Fahrenheit 9/11 Through the McCain-Feingold Looking Glass
Roger
Normand
America's Criminal Occupation of Iraq
Stan
Cox
Sanitized for Your Protection: Ashcroft's
War on Art
Henry
David Thoreau
On the Futility of Bush v. Kerry: All Voting is a Kind of Gaming
Ben
Tripp
Who Dast Call Him Liar: a Rebuttal to Nicholas Kristof
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
July
30, 2004
Someone
Should Give Lil' Caesar a Drink
The
Pathology of George Bush
By
FIDEL CASTRO
On this 51st anniversary of the attack
on the Moncada fortress on July 26, 1953 I shall address a sinister
character that keeps threatening, insulting and slandering us.
This is not a whim or an agreeable option; it is a necessity
and a duty.
On June 21, at the Anti-imperialist
Forum I read Epistle Number Two to the president of the United
States, responding to an infamous State Department report on
trafficking in human beings, one of those reports the government
of that country usually issues, as if it were the supreme moral
judge of the world. In that document Cuba is accused of being
one of the countries that promotes sexual tourism and child pornography.
Hardly two weeks went by, and
instead of keeping a decent silence about the irrefutable truth
contained in the Epistle, the wire services brought news of an
election speech by Bush in Tampa, Florida containing new, more
perfidious accusations and insults, the clearly aimed at slandering
Cuba and justifying the threats of aggression and the brutal
measures that they had just taken against our people.
The French press agency AFP
reported the following from Tampa on July 16:
"President George Bush
launched a harsh attack on Cuba when he defined it as 'a major
destination for sex tourism' and said that the United States
has a special duty to lead a world struggle against human trafficking
for forced labour or sexual purposes."
"Cuba is one of the 10
countries cited by the State Department in a report issued in
June in which it lists the governments which tolerate human trafficking
or fail to fight this crime."
"The regime of Fidel Castro
has turned Cuba into a major destination for sex tourism replacing
Southeast Asia as a destination for pedophiles and sex tourists
from the United Sates and Canada," Bush claimed.
"At a conference in Tampa,
Florida, the president pointed to Cuba as one of the worst offenders
in this area."
"Sex tourism is a vital
source of hard currency to keep his corrupt government afloat,"
he claimed.
"Bush said that putting
an end to human trafficking will be an essential part of his
foreign policy."
"The traffic in human
beings brings shame and suffering to our country and we shall
lead the fight against it," he promised.
"You are in a fight against
evil, and the American people are grateful for your dedication
and service," he told those at the conference.
"Human life is the gift
of our Creator and it should never be for sale."
A dispatch from the Spanish
press agency EFE indicated:
"We also face a problem
only 90 miles off our shores, Bush said in Florida."
"He quoted a study which
found that Cuba has "replaced Southeast Asia as a destination
for pedophiles and sex tourists."
"As restrictions on travel
to Cuba were eased during the 1990s, the study found an influx
of American and Canadian tourists contributed to a sharp increase
in child prostitution in Cuba."
"My administration is
working toward a comprehensive solution of this problem: The
rapid, peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba."
"We have put a strategy
in place to hasten the day when no Cuban child is exploited to
finance a failed revolution and every Cuban citizen will live
in freedom."
"Bush said that 'Human
life is the gift of our Creator and it should never be for sale."
"It takes a special kind
of depravity to exploit and hurt the most vulnerable members
of society. Human traffickers rob children of their innocence;
they expose them to the worst of life before they have seen much
of life. Traffickers tear families apart. They treat their victims
as nothing more than goods and commodities for sale to the highest
bidder."
And to top off this odd news,
the same press dispatch added some words spoken by John Ashcroft
in his speech introducing Bush to the National Training Conference
on Human Trafficking:
"In the 19th Century President
Abraham Lincoln held firm to a vision of freedom for all and
was rightly called the great emancipator."
"In the 21st Century we
have a great leader who has made us see that liberty is not a
gift from the United States to the world but a gift to humanity
from the Almighty."
Another wire report from the
English news agency Reuters read:
"Friday, the US president
accused the Cuban president of having turned his Caribbean island
into a sex tourism destination and of contributing to the world
problem of human trafficking".
The Italian press agency ANSA
reported:
"The regime in Havana
is adding to its crimes: it welcomes sex tourism", said
Bush who even repeated a supposed quote by Castro, 'Cuba has
the cleanest and most educated prostitutes in the world.'"
Later, wire services have reported
that the quotation of something I supposedly said on this subject,
which the US President used in the Tampa speech I just mentioned
to back up his serious accusations, was taken from a paper on
Cuba written by Charles Turnbull a law student from Vanderbilt
University in the United States who has emphatically stated that
Bush's speech misconstrued the real meaning of a sentence included
in his work, and clarified this and other matters in the following
way:
"Prostitution boomed in
the Caribbean nation after the collapse of the Soviet Union..."
"Castro, who had outlawed
prostitution when he took power in 1959, initially had few resources
to combat it. But beginning in 1996, Cuban authorities began
to crack down on the practice."
"Although it still exists,
it is far less visible and it would be inaccurate to say the
government promotes it".
On Monday, July 19, Bush administration
officials admitted they had no other source for the quote except
the paper written by the aforementioned student.
Given the fact that it was
shown that the US President had launched an extremely grave accusation
based on a sentence found in a paper written by an American student,
who himself refuted the deliberate way Bush misconstrued it,
it's hard to imagine a more bizarre response than that given
by a Whitehouse spokesperson when told about this refutation.
According to the news agency
report, the spokesperson simply, "...defended the inclusion
[of the sentence] arguing that it expressed an essential truth
about Cuba", in other words, for the White House "the
essential truth about Cuba" is anything that the president
conjures up in his mind whether it has anything to do with reality
or not.
This is exactly the kind of
fundamentalist approach that the President constantly resorts
to when there are more than enough data, arguments, truth, reasons,
and facts on a particular subject but the only determining factor
is the idea he has in his mind or the idea that suits him: anything
becomes the absolute and irrefutable truth simply because Mr.
Bush imagines it to be so.
Many people in the world who
know very little about the Cuban Revolution might fall victim
to the lies and tricks the US government spreads through the
huge media available to it.
But there are many others,
especially in poor countries who are aware of what the Cuban
revolution is about, of its marked dedication, from the very
beginning, to provide education and healthcare services to all
its children and the whole population; its spirit of solidarity
that has led it to cooperate selflessly with dozens of Third
World countries; its strict adherence to the highest moral values,
its ethical principles, its lofty concept of the dignity and
honour of its homeland and its people for which Cuban revolutionaries
have always been willing to give up their lives. There is no
doubt that these many friends, all over the world, will be wondering
how it is possible that such unspeakable, foul slander is hurled
against Cuba.
This obliges me to give a most
serious and honest explanation of the causes, which in my view,
give rise to these inconceivable, irresponsible statements by
the President of the most powerful nation on the planet, the
same who is threatening to wipe the Cuban revolution from the
face of the Earth.
I shall do this as objectively
as possible, making no arbitrary statements or shamelessly misconstruing
other people's words, sentences and concepts. I shall avoid any
petty sentiment of vengeance or personal dislike.
A theme that has been widely
documented in several books by outstanding American scientific
authors and other personalities is the current US President's
alcoholism which lasted two decades when he was between 20 and
40 years old. This feature has been rigorously and impressively
dealt with, from a psychiatric point of view and using scientific
criteria, by Dr. Justin A. Frank in a now famous book called
"Bush
on the Couch".
Dr. Frank begins by saying
that it is important to scientifically define whether Bush was
an alcoholic, or if he still is one. He has literally said:
"... the more pressing
question involves the influence his years of heavy drinking and
subsequent abstinence still have on him and those around him".
(p.39)
He goes on to explain and I
quote verbatim:
"Alcoholism is a potentially
fatal, lifelong disease that is notoriously difficult to arrest
permanently" (p. 40)
Later, referring to the man
who is now President of the United States, he says:
"Bush has said publicly
that he quit drinking without the help of AA (an organization
dedicated to helping alcoholics) or any substance abuse programme,
claiming that he stopped forever with the assistance of such
spiritual tools as bible study and conversations with the evangelist
Billy Graham".
On page 40 of the book he recounts
that, according to ex-presidential speech writer David Frum,
when Bush took over the Oval office he summoned a group of religious
leaders, asked for their prayers and told them:
"There is only one reason
that I am in the Oval Office and not a bar... I found faith,
I found God. I am here because of the power of prayer".
Dr. Frank thinks that this
statement might be true and goes on to say the following:
"...surely all Americans
would like to believe that the president no longer drinks, even
if we have no way of knowing for certain. If so, he fits the
profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested
but not treated".
He then adds:
" Former drinkers who
abstain without the benefit of the AA program are often referred
to as "dry drunks", a label that has been bandied about
on the Internet and elsewhere in reference to Bush. "Dry
drunk" isn't a medical term, and not one I use in a clinical
setting. But even without labelling Bush as such, it's hard to
ignore the many troubling elements of his character among the
traits that the recovery literature associates with the condition,
including grandiosity, judgmentalism, intolerance, detachment,
denial of responsibility, a tendency toward over-reaction and
an aversion to introspection." (p. 41)
Dr. Frank insists that he personally
has treated alcoholics who held their addiction in check without
proper treatment but that they are generally not very successful
in learning to control the anxiety that they once tried to suppress
by drinking and he explains that:
"Their rigid attempts
to manage anxiety make any psychological insight hard-won. Some
can't even face the anxiety of admitting their alcoholism.
Dr. Frank then goes on to say:
"Without that admission,
I have found, even former drinkers cannot truly change, or learn
from their own experience".
And then referring to Bush
specifically he argues the following:
"The pattern of blame
and denial, which recovering alcoholics work so hard to break,
seems to be ingrained in the alcoholic personality; it's rarely
limited to his or her drinking. The habit of placing blame and
denying responsibility is so prevalent in George W. Bush's personal
history that it is apparently triggered by even the mildest threat"
"... The rigidity of Bush's
behaviour is perhaps most readily apparent in his well-documented
reliance on his daily routines--the famously short meetings,
sacrosanct exercise schedule, daily Bible readings, and limited
office hours. A healthy person is able to alter his routine;
a rigid one cannot". (p.43)
"Of course"--the
eminent US doctor goes on, and I quote--"we all need rest
and relaxation, time to regroup, but Bush appears to need it
more than most. And this is hardly a surprise--among other reasons,
because the anxiety of being president might pose a real risk
of leading him back to drinking." (p. 43)
"Along with rigid routines
go rigid thought processes--another hallmark of the Bush presidency.
We see it in the stubborn, almost obsessive way in which he holds
on to ideas and plans after they have been discredited, from
his image of himself as a "uniter, not a divider" to
his conviction that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction (or,
in absence of such weapons, that somehow "America did the
right thing in Iraq" nevertheless). Such rigidity of thought
is not motivated by simple stubbornness; the untreated alcoholic,
consumed with the task of managing the anxieties that might make
him reach for a drink, simply can't tolerate any threat to his
status quo".
And Dr. Frank adds that such
intolerance generally leads to responses that are out of proportion
to the magnitude of the actual threat.
"This may help to explain
the dramatic contrast between George W's response to Saddam Hussein
and that of his father, who carefully built a coalition, took
action only after Kuwait had been invaded, and then proceeded
with prudence and caution once the fighting was underway-- the
behaviour of a seasoned leader who knew he was responsible for
countless others' lives, not an alcoholic accustomed to taking
dramatic measures to protect his own."
Continuing his analysis, Dr.
Frank indicates:
"Two questions that the
press seems particularly determined to ignore have hung silently
in the air since before Bush took office: Is he still drinking?
And if not, is he impaired by all the years he did spend drinking?
Both questions need to be addressed in any serious assessment
of his psychological state". (p.48)
With regard to the first question,
he points out the possibility that Bush is managing his anxiety
with medication to keep him off alcohol and he makes special
reference to his strange behaviour at press conferences. On this
point he says:
"In writing about Bush's
halting appearance in a press conference just before the start
of the Iraq War, Washington Post media critic Tom Shales speculated
that "the president may have been ever so slightly medicated".
"More troubling though,
are the appearances that arouse suspicion not because of how
he talks but what he says. He has repeatedly engaged in confabulation,
filling in gaps in his memory with what he believes are facts--most
notably on July 14, 2003, when he stood next to Kofi Annan and
made up the idea that America had given Saddam "a chance
to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in".
(As the Washington Post noted, "Hussein had, in fact, admitted
the inspectors and Bush had opposed extending their work because
he did not believe them effective". Confabulation is a common
phenomenon among drinkers, as is perseveration, which is evident
in Bush's tendency to repeat key words and phrases, as if the
repetition helps him remain calm and stay on track." (p.
49)
And Dr. Frank concludes his
analysis of these two questions with the following words:
"Even if we assume, moreover,
that George W. Bush's drinking days are behind him, the question
remains how much lasting damage may have been done before he
stopped--beyond the considerable impact on his personality that
we can trace to his untreated abstinence. Any comprehensive psychological
or psychoanalytical study of President Bush would have to explore
how much the brain and its functions are changed by more than
twenty years of heavy drinking. In a recent study out of the
University of California/San Francisco Medical Centre, researchers
found that heavy drinkers who do not call themselves alcoholics
reveal that "their level of drinking constitutes a problem
that warrants treatment". The study found that the heavy
drinkers in its sample were "significantly impaired"
on measures of working memory, processing speed, attention, executive
function and balance. Serious research about long-term recovery
from alcohol abuse is still underway. Science has established
that alcohol itself is toxic to the brain, both to its anatomy
(as the brain gets smaller and fissures between and around the
hemisphere get larger) and to its neurophysiology. But recovery
does occur with continued sobriety, extending over a five-year
period for many alcoholics. Bush claims to have been sober for
more that fifteen years, and very well may have improved to pre-alcohol
levels. However, even chronic alcoholics who recover their compromised
mental functions often suffer lingering damage to their ability
to process new information. Important neuropsychological functions
are impaired: The new information is essentially put into a file
that is lost in the brain.
"Former heavy drinkers
often have trouble distinguishing between relevant and inconsequential
information. They also may lose some of their ability to maintain
concentration. All one has to do to observe Bush's inattention
is watch him listening to a speech given by someone else, watch
his behaviour at times on the campaign trail, or consider the
obviously desperate effort he makes to retain focus in every
speech he gives." (p.50)
Finally, Dr. Frank points out
that Bush would reduce the fear of many Americans by submitting
himself to psychological tests that could scientifically measure
the effects of alcoholism on his brain function and warns:
"Otherwise, we are left
to suspect--with reason--that our president may be impaired in
his ability to make sense of complex ideas and briefings"
(p. 51)
And he ends up by saying:
"We all may be a little
afraid to find out: after all, he has already held office for
three years and has led our nation into war. But if we fail to
do so, the consequences may indict every one of us". (p.
51)
Another aspect discussed in
depth and in detail by Dr. Justin A. Frank in this book, "Bush
on the Couch", is that of President Bush's religious fundamentalism.
Dr. Frank explains how, in
trying to find relief from the internal chaos that drink sometimes
appeased but eventually intensified, Bush may have found in religion
a source of peace, not totally different from that given by alcohol,
as well as a set of rules which help him to manage both the external
world and his inner spiritual world.
He suggests that an analysis
of the role of fundamentalism in Bush's life would show that
one of the many ways that Bush employs religion as a defence
mechanism is by using it as a substitute for illegal substances
and says that Bush uses religion to simplify and even replace
thought so that, to a certain extent, he does not even need to
think. He adds that Bush, by putting himself on the side of good--on
God's side--places himself above mundane discussion and debate.
Religion serves as a shield to protect him from challenges, including
those that he himself would otherwise create.
Dr. Frank wonders how Bush
reached this point and then explains that, the Bush family tradition
has long been fuelled by faith, by the belief in a God linked
closely to moral rectitude but he makes this distinction:
"Yet President Bush's
religious orientation represents an important departure from
his family. Though certain aspects of the family tradition have
been maintained--notably the formality of religious participation--his
mid-life conversion to a more fundamentalist approach stands
in dramatic contrast to the spiritual life of his father..."
(p.56)
"And a review of the events
leading up to Bush's conscious embrace of fundamentalism shows
that it clearly occurred at a moment when he was reaching for
solutions, in a time of almost desperate need."
Dr Frank goes on to explain
that fundamentalist religions narrow the universe of opportunities
and divide the world into good and bad, in absolute terms that
leave no space for questioning and on this point he argues:
"The view of the self
is similarly simplified. Just as fundamentalist creationist teachings
deny history, the fundamentalist notion of conversion or rebirth
encourages the believer to see himself as disconnected from history.
George W. Bush's evasive, self-serving defence of his life before
he was born again displays just this tendency. "It doesn't
do any good to inventory the mistakes I made when I was young",
he has insisted. "I think the way ... to answer questions
about specific behaviour is to remind people that when I was
young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible. I changed..."
To the believer, the power of spiritual absolution not only erases
the sins of the past, but divorces the current self from the
historical sinner". (p.60)
Dr. Frank makes it clear that
there is nothing inherently unnatural in the fact that Bush seeks
protection from his faith and that, even when this makes him
stronger, the rigidity of his thought and speech patterns and
of his agenda point to a considerable fragility. He explains
that Bush's fear of everything--from disagreement to terrorist
attacks--are sometimes painfully visible, even (or especially)
through his denials and that he is a man desperately seeking
protection. Dr. Frank wonders: "But what is George W. Bush
so eager to protect himself against?" and he answers the
question with the following analysis:
"His tightly held belief
system shields him from challenges to his ideas--from critics
and opponents, but, more important, from himself. Just beneath
the surface, it's hard not to believe that he suffers from an
innate fear of falling apart, a fear too terrifying for him to
confront." (p.64)
"For someone so desperate
not to lose his way, clinging to a belief (or even a few key
phrases), and sticking to them, is yet another way to protect
against falling apart. President Bush's press conferences have
offered disturbing evidence of this ongoing anxiety--evidence
so unmistakable that it's little wonder that the White House
has proven so hesitant to schedule such events at all. After
one particularly disastrous performance in July 2003, the Slate
political columnist Timothy Noah noted that: "Bush seemed
jangled"; in a damning editorial the following day, the
New York Times noted that the president's answers were "vague
and sometimes nearly incoherent"--suggesting, perceptively,
that Bush was "bedazzled by his administration's own mythmaking"
He gives some examples of phrases
Bush used repeatedly during that press conference:
"And so we're making progress.
It's slowly but surely making progress of bringing the--those
who terrorize their fellow citizens to justice, and making progress
about convincing the Iraqi people that freedom is real. And as
they become more convinced that freedom is real, they'll begin
to assume more responsibilities that are required in a free society...
"And the threat is a real
threat. It's a threat that where--we obviously don't have specific
data, we don't know when, where, what. But we do know a couple
of things...obviously, we're talking to foreign governments and
foreign airlines to indicate to them the reality of the threat...
"I don't know how close
we are to getting Saddam Hussein. You know--it's closer that
we were yesterday, I guess. All I know is we're on the hunt.
It's like if you had asked me right before we got his sons how
close we were to get his sons, I'd say, I don't know, but we're
on the hunt.
"Well first of all, the
war on terror goes on, as I continually remind people... The
threat that you asked about, Steve, reminds us that we need to
be on the hunt, because the war on terror goes on...
"I just described to you
that there is a threat to the United States. There is no doubt
in my mind, Campbell, that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the
United States' security, and a threat to peace in the region...
"Saddam Hussein was a
threat. The United Nations viewed him as a threat. That's why
they passed twelve resolutions. Predecessors of mine viewed him
as a threat. We gathered a lot of intelligence. That intelligence
was good, sound intelligence on which I made a decision... (pp.
65-66)
And Dr. Frank goes on to say:
"So powerful are his fears
that he can't even face them. His infamous early advice to Americans
less than two weeks after 9/11--when he told Americans to continue
to shop and travel as before, in apparent denial of the radical
measures he was at the same time taking in response to the nation's
newfound vulnerability--suggests just how simplistically he viewed
the situation, closing himself off to worry and anxiety. Compare
his response to that of New York's mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, who
faced his fears, rolled up his sleeves and got to work--making
people feel far safer than Bush's stilted denial ever did.
"Bush has continued to
cite divine instruction to explain his actions since assuming
office. As reported in Israel's Haaretz News, Bush said, "God
told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he
instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did".
Finally, Dr. Frank offers these
thoughts:
"The Biblical struggle
of good and evil has resonated throughout his discourse since
9/11, from his repeated use of the term "crusade" to
his characterisation of the terrorists as "evildoers"
and grouping of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the "Axis
of Evil". At the same time, he presents the United States
as nothing more that a nation of wholly innocent victims.
"In externalizing evil
in this way, while absolving America of responsibility, Bush
has transformed his unintegrated infantile worldview into a starkly
combative (and primitive) foreign policy.
"Bush's rhetoric"--Dr.
Frank concludes--"highlights how he identifies the concepts
of himself as president with both God and America: for him these
three appear to have become somewhat interchangeable. Unable
to mourn the dead of 9/11 enough to allow for a full investigation
of how it happened--and what responsibility we might have had--he
blindly attacks the "enemy" he perceives to be everywhere,
a terrorist suddenly hiding under rock".
In his book "Stupid White
Men", Michael Moore points out that Bush exhibits obvious
symptoms of not being able to read at an adult level and writes
the following as part of an open letter to Bush:
"1. George, are you able
to read and write on an adult level?
"It appears to me and
many others that, sadly, you may be a functional illiterate.
This is nothing to be ashamed of... Millions of Americans cannot
read and write above a fourth grade level.
"But let me ask you this:
if you have trouble comprehending the complex position papers
you are handed as the Leader of the Mostly-Free World, how can
we entrust something like our nuclear secrets to you?
"All the signs of illiteracy
area there--and apparently no one has challenged you about them.
The first clue was what you named as your favourite childhood
book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", you said.
"Unfortunately, that book
wasn't even published until a year after you graduated from college."
"One thing is clear to
everyone--you can't speak the English language in sentences we
can comprehend.
"If you are going to be
Commander-in-Chief, you have to be able to communicate your orders.
What if these little slip-ups keep happening? Do you know how
easy it would be to turn a little faux pas into a national-security
nightmare?
"Your aides say that you
don't (can't?) read the briefing papers they give you, and that
you ask them to read them for you or to you."
"Please , don't take any
of this personally. Perhaps it's a learning disability. Some
sixty million Americans have learning disabilities".
In his book "Against All
Enemies", Richard Clarke writes that when Bush got to the
White House, "Early on we were told that the president is
not a big reader".
Bob Woodward's book "Bush
at War" tells that, in a National Security Council meeting
during the Afghanistan war, Bush said: "I don't read the
editorial pages. I don't --the hyperventilation that tends to
take place around those cables, every expert and every former
colonel and all that, is just background noise".
Thus far I have given a very
brief summary of what has been said on some points by outstanding
Americans, things which help to explain the strange behaviour
and aggressiveness of the US President.
I do not want to elaborate
now on more sensitive issues like those whose exposure cost his
life to J.H. Hatfield, author of the book "Fortunate Son",
and others of great interest analyzed by truly brilliant, brave,
eminent authors.
Mr. Bush's lies and slanders
and those of his closest advisors were fabricated in a hurry
to justify the atrocious measures taken against Cuban-born people
living in the United States who have close family ties in Cuba.
This outrage, as we warned
on June 21, might have adverse political consequences in Florida
which could play a decisive role in this year's elections. The
idea of a punishment vote is gaining ground among thousands of
Cuban-Americans, many of whom would normally have voted for Bush.
Hatred and blindness have lead
this administration to take a stupid, immoral action under pressure
from the terrorist mob which gave Bush a fraudulent victory when
he had a million votes less than his rival nationwide, and a
narrow majority of 537 votes in Florida where thousands of black
Americans were prevented from exercising their right to vote
whereas many dead people 'exercised' theirs. Fifteen or twenty
thousand voters could sink his hopes of re-election. These brutal
measures have also been criticized all over the country.
The overwhelming majority of
those who are members of or run that terrorist mob--which decided
no less a thing than the election of the President of the United
States--are former Batista supporters and their descendents;
or they are groups who for years have been involved in the terrorist
actions, pirate attacks, assassination plots against Cuban revolutionary
leaders and all kinds of armed aggressions against our country;
or they were big landowners and relatives of the upper middle
classes who were affected by revolutionary laws and who previously
had all kinds of privileges and many of whom have amassed huge
fortunes and have gained influence in important power circles
in the US governments.
Over 90 percent of those who
have emigrated from Cuba since the triumph of the revolution
have done so through normal channels and for economic reasons,
their leaving authorized by the Revolution that placed no obstacles.
But Cuban immigrants were forced to go under the Caudine Forks
of that powerful mafia whose influence they could not easily
ignore.
Unlike many millions of Latin
Americans, including Haitians and other Caribbeans, that emigrate
legally and illegally to the United States and are called immigrants,
Cubans, with no exception whatsoever, are called exiles.
On the other hand, the absurd
Cuban Adjustment Act has caused the loss of countless Cuban lives
by rewarding and encouraging illegal emigration and giving Cubans
extraordinary privileges that are not granted to citizens of
any other country in the world.
Nevertheless, years ago, even
before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the special period
that ensued, and despite the risk of espionage and terrorist
plans originating in the United States which the measures entailed,
Cuba gave permits to emigres so they could visit their relatives
and their country of origin, whereas the Bush administration
is abruptly closing the doors because of its fanatical obsession
of bringing Cuba to its knees through economic suffocation.
And, to that same end of depriving
our country of any income whatsoever, he labels the tourist industry
in Cuba sex tourism and calls those who visit our country coming
from the United States "paedophiles" and "pleasure
seekers".
Mr Bush does not hesitate either
in tarring Canadian tourists with the same brush when everybody
knows that the overwhelming majority of them are pensioners and
senior citizens who, in the company of their relatives, come
to enjoy the exceptional safety and calm, the politeness, culture
and hospitality that they find in our country.
What would Mr. Bush call the
tens of millions of tourists who visit the United States every
year where casinos, gambling dens, areas of male and female prostitution
and many other activities related to pornography and sex abound,
none of which exist in Cuba and all of which are alien to the
revolutionary culture of our people?
What would he call the tens
of millions of Europeans who visit Spain every year where many
pages in the papers are used to advertising the names, addresses,
the physical, cultural and intellectual characteristics and the
specialities and individual gifts to suit all tastes of those
who exercise the age-old profession of prostitution? Would he
call the US and Spanish tourist industries sex tourism?
None of the aforementioned
activities take place in Cuba. However, in the fevered and fundamentalist
mind of the all-powerful gentleman in the White House and in
those of his most intimate advisors, Cuba must now be "saved"
not only from "tyranny", Cuban children must now be
"saved from sexual exploitation and trafficking in persons"
"the world must be freed from this dreadful problem which
takes place 90 miles away from the United States".
Has no one told him that in
Cuba before the triumph of the revolution in 1959 about 100,000
women were directly or indirectly involved in prostitution for
reasons of poverty, discrimination and lack of work and that
the Revolution educated these women and found them jobs, and
outlawed the so-called "tolerance zones" which existed
in the pseudo-republic and the neo-colony installed by the United
States?
Has no one told him that the
Cuban children, whose physical, mental and moral health is the
number one priority of the Revolution, are protected by more
severe laws than those of the United States and that they all
attend school, including more than 50,000 who suffer from mental
or physical disabilities and that, without exceptions, receive
specialized care in special education centres?
Has no one told him that infant
mortality is lower in Cuba than it is in the United States and
that it continues to decrease?
Has no one dared to whisper
in his ear that Cuba occupies an outstanding and internationally
recognized place in education; that health and education services
are free and extend to the whole population; that today programs
are underway in education, health and culture that will place
Cuba far above all the other countries in the world?
The historic session of the
National Assembly of People's Power held on July 1 and 2, exposed
them and showed how ridiculous is the grotesque over 400-page-long-report
which gives an ample account and full details of the neo-colonial
and annexationist programs the fascist group which begot this
disgusting project propose to implement to the detriment of the
Cuban people and their sovereignty. This report has done nothing
if not unite our people even more and give a boost to their fighting
spirit.
They must be absolutely mad
to talk of such things as implementing literacy and vaccination
programs in Cuba where illiteracy was eradicated a long time
ago, where minimum school attendance is up to grade nine and
where children are vaccinated against 13 diseases. Actually,
such programs should be applied to tens of millions of Americans
who are left out, who do not enjoy the benefits of social security
and who have not been to school or are completely illiterate
or functionally illiterate.
The US administration has not
even dared to say a single word about the generous offer that
our country made of saving, in a short 5 year period, a life
for every life lost in the Twin Towers, by providing free health
care to 3000 US citizens who have no access to healthcare services
that are indispensable for preserving life. Neither have they
replied to the question of whether or not those who may decide
to come to Cuba to take advantage of this opportunity would be
punished.
It is really revealing that
on the very same day that Mr. Bush spouted such outrageous slanders
and threats, a prestigious American scientific institution from
California signed an agreement with the Cuban Molecular Immunology
Centre for transferring technology developed in our country for
the clinical trials and later manufacture of three promising
vaccines in the battle against cancer, which, as you know, kills
more than half a million Americans every year.
It is only fair to acknowledge
that in this case the US authorities did not set any obstacle.
This fact shows how the fruits
of everything I have talked about before are beginning to sprout
all over our country, despite 45 years of a harsh blockade and
of aggressions by US governments.
And these are not biological
weapons, nor chemical weapons, nor nuclear weapons; these are
scientific discoveries which could help all humanity.
Let's hope that, in Cuba's
case, God does not 'instruct' Mr. Bush to attack our country
but that he rather inspires him to avoid this colossal mistake!
He had better check on any divine belligerent order by consulting
the Pope and other prestigious dignitaries and theologians from
the Christian churches, asking them for their opinion
Excuse me, Mr. President of
the United States of America, for not writing a third epistle
to you this time but it would have been difficult to analyze
this subject in that way. It might have been taken for a personal
insult and I rather adhere to common courtesy.
Hail, Caesar! I say, but this
time I add: Those who are willing to die have no fear of your
enormous power, of your unbridled rage, nor of your dangerous
and cowardly threats against Cuba!
Long live the truth!
Long live human dignity!
Speech made by Fidel Castro,
President of the Republic of Cuba, at the ceremony for the 51st
anniversary of the attack on the Moncada and Carlos
Manuel de Cespedes fortresses. Ernesto Che Guevara Square, Santa
Clara, July 26, 2004.
Weekend
Edition Features for July 10 / 12, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
The Problem with Neutrality Between
Palestinians and Israel
Janine
Pommy Vega
Trail of the Comet: a Gathering of the World's Poets Against
War
Sherry
Wolf
From Maverick to Party Attack Dog: Howard Dean Gay-Bashes Nader
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
A Transfer of Power, Sort Of
Michael
Donnelly
How to Steal an Election: the Green Version, 2004
Stanton
/ Madsen
Iraq Survey Group: Rumsfeld's al-Qaeda?
Richard
Lichtman
The End of Innocence: Reflections on American Pathology
Gila
Svirsky
Thank You, Your Honors: a Legal Blow to the Wall
Kurt
Nimmo
Clinton's Life
Toni
Solo
Empire-Speak: What Roger Noriega Really Means
Ron
Jacobs
The Black Panthers and the Rest
Camelo
Ruiz Marrero
Gene Warfare in Oaxaca: Genetic Mutation of Mexican Maize
Omar
Barghouti
Wither the Empire: Rise of a Global Resistance
Poets'
Basement
Curtis and Albert
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