by Stephanie Salter

THERE WAS an unintentionally ironic moment Monday as CNN's veteran news anchor, Aaron Brown, reacted to live footage of grieving relatives who'd come to Las American International airport in Santo Domingo to meet American Airlines Flight 587.

Said Brown, "This is so painful to watch."

Funny, I've been thinking the same thing of late about CNN itself.

Between the September 11 terrorist attacks and the so-called war in Afghanistan, a once-great news operation seems to be morphing into the Atlanta-based annex of the West Wing -- the real one in the White House, not the Emmy-winning series on CBS.

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by Robert Fisk

It wasn't meant to be like this. The nice, friendly Northern Alliance, our very own foot-soldiers in Afghanistan, is in Kabul. It promised – didn't it? – not to enter the Afghan capital. It was supposed to capture, at most, Mazar-i-Sharif and perhaps Herat, to demonstrate the weakness of the Taliban, to show the West that its war aims – the destruction of the Taliban and thus of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida movement – were inevitable.

The corpse of the old man in the center of Kabul, executed by our heroes in the Alliance, was not supposed to be on television. Only two days ago, Alastair Campbell's 24-hour Washington-London-Islamabad "communication center was supposed to counter Taliban propaganda. Now Mr Campbell must set up his team of propagandists in Kabul to fight the lies of our very own foot-soldiers of the Northern Alliance.

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by Jim Wallis

Many of us in the religious community have deep concerns about the moral, practical and political consequences of the military campaign in Afghanistan. Causing the loss of additional innocent lives, however unintentionally, will undermine what should be our only goal: bringing terrorists to justice.

But the question is what to do now. People committed to nonviolence cannot simply wish away the problems. We must answer the questions that violence purports to answer: how to stop further terrorist violence and punish those responsible for the mass murder of innocent people -- but in a better way.

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by Robert Jensen and Rahul Mahajan

AT A TIME when U.S. journalists could hardly have fallen in line more quickly and completely with government officials, it's ironic that the most common criticism of the news media has been that they have "gone negative" and been too critical in their reporting on the Afghanistan war.

The problem isn't that journalists have been asking too many critical questions but that they have not asked enough of the right critical questions. The Northern Alliance entrance into Kabul doesn't change the importance of those questions.

We all have a stake in this. A more independent press would better serve the most hawkish Americans as much as the doves. As citizens in a democracy, we all need the most complete information possible if we are to participate meaningfully.

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by Robert Scheer

Once again, we're being sold on the devil theory of history. Not that Osama bin Laden doesn't fit the bill as the Satan of the moment, just as Saddam Hussein did in the previous Bush administration. But it's dangerous nonsense to suggest, as President Bush does, that we're up against an evildoer the likes of whom we've never seen.

While it's certainly necessary to eliminate Bin Laden's terrorist cohort, that will hardly end the prospect of mayhem in this world. We lull ourselves into a false sense of security when we insist that madness is the exclusive province of one group of extremists, or that it inevitably finds its locus in one religion or region of the world.

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by John Nichols

Corporate lobbyists pulled off one of the most remarkable raids on the public treasury in American history when, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, they grabbed $15 billion in federal aid for the airline industry. Against barely a whimper of opposition from Congress, they collected a few-strings-attached largesse that secured the positions of executives and investors while providing no protections for laid-off workers or lay-over travelers.

Now, the lobbyists are back in Washington. The Gucci Brigades clog the sidewalks around the Capitol, cell phones permanently attached to their ears - except when they spy senators who are ripe for buttonholing. Their appetites whetted by the success of the airline bailout scam, the lobbyists have returned for the big prize: $16 billion in tax refunds to the nation's largest and most profitable corporations.

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By: William Rivers Pitt

"In my own country I am in a far-off land I am strong but have no force or power I win all yet remain a loser At break of day I say goodnight When I lie down I have a great fear Of falling." - Francois Villon

There once was a dream called America.

In the beginning, it did not reside on a particular patch of earth. It had no borders, no mountains, no rivers, no forests. It had no seas, crops, roads, or cities. It claimed no army, nor navy, nor air force. No nuclear dragons were coiled in the soil, waiting for the order to spring. It had no people, rich or poor.

The dream that was America was born in turbulent days surrounding the final collapse of the Stuart monarchy in England. King James II believed it within his purview to dismiss, ignore and override Parliament, who were the representatives of the People. He held citizens in prison without charging them or bringing them before a magistrate. He deigned to have them tried before secret courts. Troops loyal to him entered private homes as they pleased. Citizens who did not practice the religion of the King knew fear.

When William of Orange marched on London in 1688, trailed by an army once loyal to James and backed by the will of Parliament, the last Stuart monarch was sent across the English Channel to live in disgrace in France. It is believed that he threw the Great Seal of the Stuarts into the frigid waters, a final symbolic drowning for a disgraceful era.

From that day forth, England was to be ruled by the People, through their representatives in Parliament. Parliament was to rule the King, and not the reverse. A Bill of Rights was drafted, in which was enshrined the first true habeas corpus laws protecting the basic rights of citizens against the infringements of government. Troops could no longer enter private homes, citizens could not be held without charge or trial, and true religious freedom was at long last established.

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