Peter Hudis "Whatever
Happened to the Anti-war movement" News and Letters
Carl Davidson
Debates David McReynolds
More Debate
on Carl Davidson
Martin Shaw, "Ten
Challenges for Anti-war Politics" Radical Philosophy/The Global Site
David Aaronovitch, "
Stop trying to stop the war. Start trying to win
the peace" Independent Nov. 16
For a
fair-minded progressive the call should not be Stop the War . That slogan is
now irrelevant and harmful. The requirement is surely to win the peace. It is
to support and supplement the work of the aid agencies in any way we can, to
collect money ourselves and to demand of the Government and the UN that they
fulfill the promises of an Afghan Marshall Plan. It is for people with the
right skills and enthusiasm to volunteer as teachers, or to assist those
Afghans now in Britain who so wish to assist in the remaking of a nation.
Peace-making has always been far more difficult and – to be honest – far
more positive than peace campaigning. It doesn't lend itself quite so well to
stirring speeches and placards
Left
Groups Debate the State of the Peace Movement
Tony
Benn on September 11, New Labour, etc. Tribune
"Is
This Really a Just War?" The Nation
Letters
on Richard Falk's article. His reply backtracks from his original judgment.
Leo Casey "The
Unbearable Whiteness of Chomsky's Arguments"
"Half-Truths in Chomsky's Response."
"Let
Us Not Inherit This Ill Wind: A Rejoinder to Chomsky's "Reply to
Casey" on Issues Emanating from the September 11 Mass Murders
Ben Ehrenreich, "The
Left Responds" LA Weekly
Bob Wing, "How
to Respond" A letter from the editor of Color
Lines. (On site)
David
McReynolds on the American Flag
War
Resisters League, "The Wrong Message"
The
peace movement must avoid old thinking if it wants to connect with mainstream
Americans.
Christopher Hitchens, "
Against Rationalization"
"the
bombers of Manhattan represent fascism with an Islamic face, and there's no
point in any euphemism about it. What they abominate about "the
West," to put it in a phrase, is not what Western liberals don't like and
can't defend about their own system, but what they do like about it and
must defend: its emancipated women, its scientific inquiry, its separation of
religion from the state. Loose talk about chickens coming home to roost is the
moral equivalent of the hateful garbage emitted by Falwell and Robertson, and
exhibits about the same intellectual "content. Indiscriminate murder is not a
judgment, even obliquely, on the victims or their way of life, or ours."
John Scharr, "What
Is Patriotism
Marina Sitrin & Chuck Morse, "An
Anti-Authoritarian Response to War"
Nathan Newman, "The
Horror and the Humanity." Progressive Populist
New
York Left on the War" New York Observer
[Note: Support
for action--including force against Bin Laden-- expressed by many in this
aritcle should not be assumed to equate support for the military policies of
the Bush administration--se]
Eric Lee, "Democratic
Socialist Should Support the War"
Bill Onasch "Response
to Eric Lee: Against Terrorism and the Cynical War on Terrorism"
"What
You Should Know About the WWC/IAC"
British
anarchist site criticizes the Workers' World Party.
Ian Williams, "Ramsey
Clark: The War Criminals Best Friend" Salon June 1999
"The
Mysterious Ramsey Clark"
The former
AG has allied himself with war criminals and the Stalinist Worker's World Party.
Kevin Coogan "International
Action Center: Peace Activists with a Hidden Agenda"
Interactivist Info Center
"Captive
injustice: America's war prisoners have rights too" Guardian
Dec. 29
Charles Lane "Bush
Calls Draft on Tribunals 'Preliminary'
" Washington Post Dec. 29
Mark Fazlollah and Peter Nicholas,
"US
Overstates Arrests in Terrorism" Philadelphia Inquirer Dec. 16
The Department of Justice has
overstated its record of arresting and convicting terrorists for years,
inflating the numbers it gives Congress with garden-variety crimes that have
no connection to terrorism.
Jake Tapper "The
Weak Case for Military Tribunals" Salon Premium Dec. 5
Nat Hentoff, "It's
Only the Constitution" The Progressive/Alternet
"Save
Lady Liberty" A flash mini-movie with action links from Act for Change
Human Right Watch, "U.S.
Criticisms of Military Tribunals"
Dana Milbank, "In
War, It's Power to the President"
Washington Post Nov 20
Matthew Purdy, "Bush's
New Rules to Fight Terror Transform the Legal Landscape" New York
Times November 25
William Safire "Seizing
Dictatorial Power" New York Times Nov. 15
Nixon's chief speech writer
blistering attack on Bush's military tribunals.
Jordan J. Paust, "Military
Commissions Some Perhaps Legal, But Most Unwise" Jurist
Robin Toner, "Despite
Some Concerns: Civil Liberties Are Taking a Back Seat" New York
Times Nov. 18
Jennifer
Mathieu, "Quirky
Yes, Al Qaeda No" Houston Press
FBI
investigates a Houston art gallery
Charles Shoebridge, "Free
Speech is Under Attack" Guardian Nov. 16
[New anti-terrorist legislation
in Great Britain would treat criticism of religious views like racial
incitement.]
Human Rights Watch, "UK
Antiterrorism Bills Undermines Fundamental Human Rights Protections"
Human Rights Watch, "New
Military Commissions Threaten Rights, Credibility"
"Security
With Liberty: A Forum" The Nation
Morton Halperin, "Less
Secure, Less Free" The American Prospect
David Cole "How
Not to Fight Terrorism"
Current law gives the
INS substantial power to address terrorism. It allows the agency to deny entry
to, detain, or deport any alien who has engaged in or supported any kind of
terrorist activity. But that's apparently not enough for the Bush
administration: It suggests expanding its authority to permit deportation of
immigrants who have never engaged in or supported an act of violence in their
life. They could be expelled from the country solely on the basis of their
associational activity.
Under the Bush
proposal, an alien who sent coloring books to a day-care center run by an
organization that at some time was involved in armed struggle would be
deportable as a terrorist, even if she could show that the coloring books were
used only by three-year-olds. Indeed, the law extends to those who seek to
support a group in the interest of countering terrorism. Thus, an immigrant
who offered the IRA his services as a negotiator in the hope of furthering the
peace process in Great Britain and forestalling further violence would be
deportable as a terrorist.
Joe
Canason, "Don't
Sacrifice Freedoms for Security"
John
Conyers, Jr. "Liberty
at Risk"
Does
the anti-terrorism bill endanger civil liberties?
Frank Rich, "How
to Lose a War" New York Times
James Ridgeway "Osama's
Newest Recruits:White Power and Al Queda Unite Against America"
Debora MacKenzie, "Anthrax
bacteria likely to be US military strain" New Scientist
Robert Reich, "Take
A Guess: Who's Going to Pay for Terror Economy"
"Study
Suggests Lower Numbers for US Moslems" New York Times
David Cesarani, "The
Whiff of Anti-Semitism"
Congresswoman
Barbara Lee's Statement in the House of Representatives
Major
Shift in Bush Policy, US Will Support a Palestinian State (Guardian UK)
Bill Onasch, "On the Brink of
War"
Susan
Sontag
Holger
Jensen, "Don't
Expect Quick Reprisals" Rocky Mountain News
Holger
Jensen "It's
Easy to Enter Afghanistan and Hard to Leave" Rocky Mountain News
Holger
Jensen, "Attacks
Beyond Bin Laden's Power?"
Some
counter-terrorism experts question the conventional wisdom.
Tom
Carew, "Welcome
to the Death Zone" Salon
The
U.S. can't win a ground war in Afghanistan, says a British special forces
officer who helped train the mujahedin.
Naomi Klein, "Game
Over: The Illusion of War Without Casualties"
Use
Technology to Stop All Hijacking: A Plan from Silicon Valley
Robin
Wright, "The
Trouble With Retaliation"
"The
larger problem with retaliation—at least, retaliation of the sort that most
people envision—is that it will make terrorist attacks on the United States
more likely in the future."
Elijah Wald, "Why
I Cannot Hold a Candle."
I will light a candle,
give blood, do whatever I can to show solidarity with all those who died in
this horrific attack. I will light a candle, or do whatever else I can, to try
to end the cycle of terror. But I will not join an action to show America's
current leaders that we are "strong and united" behind them. They
are not among the victims, they are among those who brought us to this pass,
and I fear that their idea of "strength" will only mean more death,
fear, and suffering for all of us.
Buzz-Flash
Editorial "A
Spirited Debate"
"Whatever
immediate military actions lie ahead, it is not unpatriotic to ask for a
spirited debate on how best to protect our nation, our families and
ourselves."
Bill Onasch, "The
Working Class, Terrorism and the War"
Robert Fisk, " Bush
Is Walking Into a Trap" The Indepedent (U.K.)
"Retaliation
is a trap. In a world that was supposed to have learnt that the rule of law
comes above revenge, President Bush appears to be heading for the very
disaster that Osama bin Laden has laid down for him. Let us have no doubts
about what happened in New York and Washington last week. It was a crime
against humanity. We cannot understand America's need to retaliate unless we
accept this bleak, awesome fact. But this crime was perpetrated – it becomes
ever clearer – to provoke the United States into just the blind, arrogant
punch that the US military is preparing."
Jonathon Philips
"Why a Crusade Will Lead to a Jihad"
"As
the President tries to engineer support for his counter-attack from the Muslim
nations, he needs to understand that "crusade'' is a word not to be
employed lightly. In many regions, its use is highly inflammatory. Countries
such as Syria and Egypt, where the original crusades were fought out, are less
likely to sympathise with an operation, however justified, if it carries a
label that arouses such intrinsic antipathy. For Bush to cast himself as the
leader of a modern crusade is to fulfill one of militant Islam's most charged
and dangerous descriptions of the US and western powers."
Hugh McManners: "Victory
is possible – but not by bombing the Afghans 'back into the Stone Age'
Joel
Bliefuss, "The
Problem with Evil" In These Times
Why
Unthinkable Acts of Terrorism Can't Be Stopped
David Corn "The
Dark Smoke"
Extremism Begets Extremism, the attacks should not be
allowed to distort America's political discourse.
Jonathon Schell, "A
Hole in The World"
Robert Fisk "Terror
in America"
argues that we have to examine the idea of
"mindless" terrorism if we are ever to realize just how hated America
has become.
Interview
with the author of the Afghani email
Letter
from an Afghan-American
Jane's
Reports: Another Suspect
Israel’s
military intelligence service, Aman, suspects that Iraq is the state that
sponsored the suicide attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon in
Washington. Directing the mission, Aman officers believe, were two of the
world’s foremost terrorist masterminds: the Lebanese Imad Mughniyeh, head of
the special overseas operations for Hizbullah, and the Egyptian Dr Ayman Al
Zawahiri, senior member of Al-Qaeda and possible successor of the ailing Osama
Bin Laden.
David
Corn, "A War
Without End"
President
Bush and his comrades have declared a war with no natural finale, with no
obvious terms of victory.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, "Black
Tuesday and Beyond: The View from Pakistan"
"If
the
only lesson of September 11 is that America needs to assert its military might,
then the future will be as grim as can be."
Robin
Wright, "The
Evolutionary Psychology of Revenge"
"Why
does pretty much everyone feel that it's good to punish terrorists? Obviously,
there are sound practical reasons to punish people who do bad things, and all
of us, pressed to articulate our retributive urge, can list them. Still, the
urge precedes the articulation. It is an emotional reflex, a part of human
nature no less than the feelings of hunger or lust. That's why it's worth
trying to fathom: The better we understand the retributive urge, the less
likely we are to be misguided by it."
Jason Burke and others, "Al-Qaeda's
trail of terror" The Observer Nov. 18
As the Taliban and
their supporters fled Kabul, they left behind a mass of papers providing the
strongest evidence yet to link al-Qaeda to the attacks of 11 September.
Martin Woollacott, "Saddam
will be the next US target, one way or another" Guardian Nov. 16
The argument is now
about how to take on Iraq
Action You
Can Take
send an
email to Congress through Global Exchange.
The
National Coalition for Peace and Justice, representing the nation's largest
peace organizations, asks its member groups and networks to organize a national
day of action for peace on October 7 in local communities across the country
Download Peace Graphics
Peace/Flag from Northland Poster Collective
Tariq Ali, "Between Hammer and
Anvil" New Left Review March-April 2000
Review essay of John Cooley, Unholy Wars, and Ahmed Rashid, Taliban. How the US fought its proxy
war in Afghanistan, and what kind of Islamist regime has resulted.
Robert Worth, "The
Deep Intellectual Roots of Islamic Terror" New York Times October
13 [registration required, free]
Osama bin
Laden's advocacy of jihad, or holy war, against the West is a natural
extension of what some radical
Islamists have been saying and doing since the 1930's. Michael Doran of
Princeton University warns that Bin Laden "...wants
the U.S. to strike back disproportionately, because he believes that will
outrage Muslims and inspire them to overthrow their governments and build an
Islamic state."
Atlantic
Online: Flashback-Coming to Terms with Jihad
Robert
Parry "Towards the
Brink"
To
understand and respond to the attack we must recall the lost history of the
last twenty plus years in which the makers of U.S. foreign policy have often
aligned with terrorists.
Jason Vest
"Some Things to Consider About Afghanistan by Those Who've Been
There"
Praveen Swami, "America's
Frankenstein" Frontline (India)
Two decades after it
reinvented jihad as an instrument of foreign policy, the war financed by the
U.S. rebounds on itself.
David
Plotz "Who's Who in the
Terror World."
I. Wallerstein, "September 11, 2001 - Why?"
David
Greenberg, "Blundering
Into Afghanistan"
"As
the drums beat for a war with Afghanistan, it has fallen to a skittish few to
warn that such a campaign almost certainly won't be a Gulf War-style cakewalk.
As we've been reminded in the last few days, the Soviet Union failed miserably
in the 1980s to defeat the Muslim mujahideen who resisted Marxist rule in
their nation—not only humiliating a superpower but helping to speed its
utter collapse."
The
Changing Face of Terrorism:
It's
becoming something fundamentally different
historian David Greenberg
Afghanistan
Ali A. Jali, "Afghanistan:
The Anatomy of an Ongoing Conflict" Parameters US Army War College
Quarterly Spring 2001
Barnett Rubin, "The
Political Economy of War and Peace In Afghanistan" 1999
Barnett Rubin
"Afghanistan: Persistent Crisis Challenges the UN System"
Afghanistan:
The Hostage Nation
The
Human Rights Tragedy
Human
Rights Watch Afghanistan Documents
"Afghanistan"
Global Security Org
Good background study, especially on the
Soviet invasion
Peter R. Blood "Afghanistan
Country Study" Federal Research Division Library of Congress 1997
Who
is Bin Laden?
Julian Borger, "Bin
Laden Plotted Hundreds of Attacks" The Guardian
"Ossama's
Nuclear Quest" New York Times
Mid-East
Web Profile: Include Bin Laden documents
Among
experts, bin Laden a mystery:
Is he really a criminal
mastermind coordinating and controlling these atrocities, experts wonder, or
simply the most prominent of a larger band of terrorists?
What
Does Osama Bin Laden Want?
Terror
in the Mind of God
Michael Moran, "Bin
Laden Comes Home to Rest"
MSNBC
International Correspondent in this 1998 articles wrote that "Osama bin Laden, our new public
enemy Number 1, is the personification of blowback."
Frontline (PBS) "Hunting
Bin Laden"
Michel Chossudovsky "Who
is Bin Laden"
"the Islamic
jihad --featured by the Bush Adminstration as "a threat to
America"-- is blamed for the terrorist assaults on the World Trade Centre
and the Pentagon, these same Islamic organisations constitute a key instrument
of US military-intelligence operations in the Balkans and the former Soviet
Union."
Bin
Laden Buys Child Slaves for His Drug Farms (from 1999)
Federation of American Scientists, "Terrorism:
Background and Threat Assessment"
Links to myriad US
government documents
Social Science Research Council "After
September 11: Perspectives from the Social Sciences"
"The
Terror List"
Groups
List in State Department's Patterns of Global Terrorism 2000
National
Academies Reports on Terrorism and Security
A
Deliberate Strategy of Disruption" Washington Post
Behind
the anti-terrorist roundup. In an attempt to disrupt terrorism, the U.S.
government is detaining Middle Eastern men under great secrecy and on a scale
not seen since World War II.
Jim McGee, "An
Intelligence Behemoth" Washington Post
Anti-Terrorism
Law Likely to Bring Domestic Apparatus of Unprecedented Scope
National Security Archives
Sourcebooks on September 11
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