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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! How Cops Extort Confessions;
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
How Cops Extort Confessions;
How the U.S. “Justice System” Really WorksNinety-two per cent of felony convictions in the U.S. are obtained by plea bargains or confessions. Without them the “justice system” would grind to a halt. In an important piece in our latest newsletter, available only to subscribers, Emily Horowitz shows how totally innocent people will “confess” under police pressure, even without physical torture. Horowitz outlines the powerful case for banning confessions altogether. Also in this new edition Marcus Rediker, co-author of the legendary The Many Headed Hydra, writes of popular heroism and resistance in the favelas of Medellin, Colombia. Alexander Cockburn reports on how America’s oldest bank, patronized by the global elites, washed billions smuggled out of Russia, and how the Russians might win their money back, shaking the world’s banking system if they do so. Serge Halimi describes the real battle for the soul of Europe. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories August 27, 2008 Anthony DiMaggio Jordan Flaherty Ralph Nader Melissa Checker Bob Sommer Cynthia McKinney Ali Khan M. Junaid Levesque-Alam Dave Lindorff David Macaray Website of the Day
August 26, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Michael D. Yates Paul Craig Roberts Andy Worthington Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Huwaida Arraf Joseph Grosso Sheldon Richman Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day August 25, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Bill Quigley Jonathan Cook James McEnteer Uri Avnery Will Potter Robert Jensen Stephen Lendman Wajahat Ali Carl Finamore Website of the Day August 23 / 4, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patty O'Grady Nicole Colson Steve Conn Deepak Trapathi Robert Fantina Jonathan M. Feldman Joshua Frank Osama Qashoo Howard Lisnoff David Michael Green Dave Lindorff Christopher Brauchli Alan Farago Michael Winship Richard Rhames David Rosen Patrick B. Barr Jamie Newlin Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 22, 2008 Boris Kagarlitsky Laura Carlsen Bob Barr Marwan Bishara Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. Charles Mostoller Sumbul Ali-Karamali Keith Rosenthal John F. Miglio Website of the Day August 21, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Dave Lindorff Loserville: How Obama Blew It Ralph Nader Joanne Mariner Wajahat Ali Ron Jacobs Rostam Purzal Anthony Papa Website of the Day August 20, 2008 Michael Neumann Ray McGovern Eric Walberg Fidaa Abed Daniel Haack Mike Whitney Website of the Day August 19, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Deepak Tripathi Marwan Bishara Saul Landau William S. Lind Martha Rosenberg James Brittain Pratyush Chandra David Macaray Website of the Day August 18, 2008 Tariq Ali Gary Leupp Uri Avnery John Ross Farooq Sulehria Luis Rodriguez Manuel Garcia, Jr. Noah Baker Merrill Charles Thomson Website of the Day August 16 / 17, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Deepak Tripathi Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Robert Fantina Ray McGovern Nicole Colson Fatima Bhutto Jean-Luis Rocca David Michael Green Ramzi Kysia Dave Lindorff Lisa Martinovic Richard Rhames Don Santina Rannie Amiri Ramzy Baroud John Stanton Howard Lisnoff Ron Jacobs Seth Sandronsky Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
August 15, 2008 Steve Niva David Remington Michael Winship Paul Craig Roberts Farzana Versey Harvey Wasserman Felice Pace Julian Critchley Website of the Day August 14, 2008 Saul Landau / Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Reza Fiyouzat Ralph Nader Christopher Brauchli The Cheerleader in China Jack Bradigan Spula Patrick Irelan John Walsh Dan Bacher Website of the Day
August 13, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts David Remington Brian Cloughley Glen Ford Brendan Cooney Dave Lindorff Tom Lewis Stan Cox Alan Farago Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day August 12, 2008 Uri Avnery Anthony DiMaggio Bill Christison Eric Walberg Kate Connolly Diane Farsetta Peter Morici Thom Rutledge Lee Patton Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day August 11, 2008 Ishmael Reed Paul Craig Roberts Gary Leupp Douglas Kammen William Willers Greg Moses Jeff Leys Cynthia McKinney Alan Farago Website of the Day August 9 / 10, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Bruce Jackson Kevin Young Chris Floyd Joshua Frank Robert Fantina Brendan Cooney Mark Almond Lois Gibbs Rev. William Alberts Kathy Kelly John Ross David Michael Green Bill Moyers / Ron Jacobs Richard Rhames David Yearsley Lee Sustar Brenda Norrell Ben Terrall Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 8, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Manuel Garcia, Jr. M. Shahid Alam Andy Worthington Lawrence J. Korb David Model Alan Farago Diop Olugbala Firmin DeBrabander Website of the Day August 7, 2008 Dr. Trudy Bond William Blum Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Robert Weitzel Jacob G. Hornberger Binoy Kampmark David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Website of the Day August 6, 2008 Marc Herold Greg Moses Sheldon Rampton Kevin Young Michael Estrada Robert Weissman Dr. Susan Block Cindy Sheehan Ace Hoffman Website of the Day August 5, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Jeff Halper Patrick Cockburn Nancy Welch Peter Morici Sousan Hammad Eamon Martin Shepherd Bliss Tim Matson Website of the Day August 4, 2008 Uri Avnery Saul Landau David W. Remington Rev. Jesse Jackson Dave Lindorff Peter Morici Joanne Mariner Ramzy Baroud Christian Wright Website of the Day August 2 / 3, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Winslow T. Wheeler James Abourezk Andy Worthington Brian Cloughley Robert Fantina Benjamin Dangl Marlene Martin David Yearsley Fatemeh Keshavarz David Michael Green Obama as Dukakis Harvey Wasserman Jason Hribal Phyllis Pollack Laray Polk Ron Jacobs David Macaray David Rosen Dan Bacher Joe Allen Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 1, 2008 Jonathan Cook Nikolas Kozloff Rannie Amiri Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli M. K. Bhadrakumar Patrick Cockburn James J. Brittain Dan Bacher Website of the Day
July 31, 2008 Michael Hudson Carl Finamore Mike Whitney Joshua Frank Andy Worthington Ralph Nader Bill Moyers / Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff Website of the Day July 30, 2008 Brian M. Downing Chuck Spinney William S. Lind David Ker Thomson Karl Grossman Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg James Murren Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Website of the Day July 29, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair John Ross Peter Morici Alison Weir Gary Leupp David Macaray Brenda Norrell Marjorie Cohn Eric Ruder Website of the Day July 28, 2008 Dr. Bryant Welch Kathy Kelly Mike Whitney Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli Clifton Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
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August 27, 2008 The Myths of Joe BidenDemocratic DelusionsBy ANTHONY DiMAGGIO
The Democratic nomination of Barack Obama and Joe Biden for President and Vice-President has cemented the party's role as a fair-weather "opponent" of the Iraq war. Sadly, Obama's choice of Senator Biden looks like it will further contribute to the politics-as-usual cynicism of the Democratic Party. Biden's comments, excerpted above, may pay lip service to withdrawal, but they reveal much about his delusional beliefs concerning Iraq. Biden's statement demonstrates a warped understanding of the Iraq conflict, as well as the U.S. position in that conflict. Americans have never been seen by Iraqis as the glue that's holding a fragile Iraq together. Quite the contrary, the vast majority have felt for years that the U.S. occupation is actually contributing to instability, greatly contributing to the violence, and serving as a lightning-rod for encouraging Islamist radicals to travel to Iraq and attack the U.S. head-on. Historically, the U.S., rather than any scattered "insurgents," has been the primary party responsible for the destruction of Iraq. The U.S. funded both sides of the Iran-Iraq war, which cost an estimated one million lives, intentionally destroyed Iraqi infrastructure during the 1991 Gulf War, supported mass murder through sanctions throughout the 1990s (with another estimated 1.5 million killed), and presided over an occupation that has taken by some estimates as many as another one million lives (how many insurgents in Iraq can claim the power to kill 3.5 million people?). Don't expect to hear any about these inconvenient truths from Joe Biden though. His chastising of the Bush administration overwhelmingly focuses on tactical failures to efficiently further the war, not substantive criticisms of the U.S. "right" to occupy a foreign country in violation of international and national law. Don't anticipate reading about any of these critical issues in the press either, as they have misrepresented Biden's views on Iraq in order to further the myth of the Democratic Party as "anti-war." Following Obama's announcement of Biden as his VP choice, for example, the Today show on NBC reported that Biden "voted for the Iraq war in 2002, but became a vocal critic" in recent years. If Biden is a critic of the war, then it is only in the most narrow and parochial of terms. To be sure, Biden has amassed an impressive record of anti-war rhetoric. However, talk is cheap in the world of American political spin – only actions count. Biden has long been an opportunistic critic of the war, voting for authorization of force in 2002, and only later criticizing the war on tactical grounds as Democrats tried to recapture Congress and the Presidency (in 2006 and 2008). As late as April 2008, Biden criticized President Bush for having "no strategy for success in Iraq…his plan is to muddle through, and hand the problem off to his successor." His vacillation between anti-war rhetoric and pro-war policy, however, demonstrates the astounding heights in which the Democratic Party's schizophrenia has reached. Joe Biden has not supported an end to the Iraq war or a withdrawal of troops, contrary to media and political propaganda. In reporting Biden's acceptance of the VP spot, major papers such as the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and New York Times framed Biden as a fierce "critic" of the Iraq war. However, closer inspection reveals that these claims are false. Biden has publicly gone on record arguing that Democrats don't have the necessary votes to end the war, even though they clearly do retain the power to end combat operations by voting down funding: "As long as there is a single troop in Iraq, I know if I take action by funding them, I increase the prospect they will live or not be injured, I cannot and will not vote no to fund them." Biden has historically denounced those who favor immediate withdrawal and an end to Iraq funding: "the hard truth is that our large military presence in Iraq is necessary. They are the only guarantor against chaos. Pulling out prematurely or setting a deadline divorced from progress in the areas I've discussed [throughout the country] will doom us." He warns even more starkly that a premature withdrawal may embolden "the most radical extreme elements of the jihadis," and embolden Saudi Arabia and Syria to continue to fund these groups. Readers could be forgiven for thinking that these comments were made by John McCain or any member of the Bush administration, rather than an "anti-war" Democrat. Joe Biden has no anti-war credentials to stand on. It is true that, at times (like Barack Obama), he has voted for and supported a timetable for withdrawing some troops from Iraq. However, like most Democrats, he refuses to condemn plans for permanent military bases, and supports a continued military presence, albeit in smaller numbers than preferred by Bush and other Republicans. The much discussed, albeit toothless Brownback-Biden bill (which gained bi-partisan support in 2007) is not anti-war in the least. While this bill supported a redeployment of troops by 2007, and a theoretical withdrawal of most troops by 2008, it was non-binding in its language, and even attached to a spending bill authorizing continued funding of the war. Most specifically, the language of the bill "authorize[d] the President to continue participation by U.S. Armed Forces in Multi-National Force—Iraq." This bill contains none of the enforcement mechanisms needed to bring about an end to a war which Republicans have enthusiastically supported for over five years. If its contents can be classified as anti-war, then the term itself is truly vacuous. Media outlets continue to frame the Obama-Biden team as committed to the anti-war cause. Obama has always been framed as anti-war, but even the Hawkish Biden is increasingly depicted in similar terms. The Associated Press speaks of Biden's bill supporting indefinite funding for war as "anti-war" in its efforts to "redefine the president's authority in Iraq, but defended the effort as key to prodding the president in a new direction." The neoconservative New York Post condemns his "pathetic anti-war antics" and his effort "to repeal the authorization that Congress passed overwhelmingly in 202." While none of these statements are in the least bit grounded in reality, we can expect more of them to arise following Biden's acceptance speech this Wednesday. Biden will likely continue to cash in on opportunistic anti-war rhetoric, while failing to back it up with any real efforts to end the war. Anthony DiMaggio is the author of Mass Media, Mass Propaganda: Understanding American News in the “War on Terror” (2008). He teaches American Government at North Central College in Illinois, and can be reached at: adimag2@uic.edu
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