SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Ari & I: January 30, 2003
Russell Mokhiber questions White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer
Jan 30, 2003
Russell Mokhiber: Ari, two things. Yesterday in South Africa, former President Nelson Mandela said "All President Bush wants is Iraqi oil because Iraq produces 64 percent of the oil and he wants to get a hold of it." He also said that America is "so arrogant" that they dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killed innocent people. President Bush, on the other hand, yesterday said "either you are with us, or you are with the enemy." In saying this, does the President believe that Nelson Mandela, France and Germany are with the enemy?
Ari Fleischer: No, on the last point. And on the first point, if this was a war for oil, the United States would be the one saying -- lift the sanctions -- and that way Iraq could pump oil. This is about peace, this is about protecting the people in the region and the American people from Saddam Hussein and his weapons that kill millions.
Mokhiber: May I have a second one --
Fleischer: No you can't. Not today. We are running late.
Ari moves on.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
Russell Mokhiber: Ari, two things. Yesterday in South Africa, former President Nelson Mandela said "All President Bush wants is Iraqi oil because Iraq produces 64 percent of the oil and he wants to get a hold of it." He also said that America is "so arrogant" that they dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killed innocent people. President Bush, on the other hand, yesterday said "either you are with us, or you are with the enemy." In saying this, does the President believe that Nelson Mandela, France and Germany are with the enemy?
Ari Fleischer: No, on the last point. And on the first point, if this was a war for oil, the United States would be the one saying -- lift the sanctions -- and that way Iraq could pump oil. This is about peace, this is about protecting the people in the region and the American people from Saddam Hussein and his weapons that kill millions.
Mokhiber: May I have a second one --
Fleischer: No you can't. Not today. We are running late.
Ari moves on.
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
Russell Mokhiber: Ari, two things. Yesterday in South Africa, former President Nelson Mandela said "All President Bush wants is Iraqi oil because Iraq produces 64 percent of the oil and he wants to get a hold of it." He also said that America is "so arrogant" that they dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killed innocent people. President Bush, on the other hand, yesterday said "either you are with us, or you are with the enemy." In saying this, does the President believe that Nelson Mandela, France and Germany are with the enemy?
Ari Fleischer: No, on the last point. And on the first point, if this was a war for oil, the United States would be the one saying -- lift the sanctions -- and that way Iraq could pump oil. This is about peace, this is about protecting the people in the region and the American people from Saddam Hussein and his weapons that kill millions.
Mokhiber: May I have a second one --
Fleischer: No you can't. Not today. We are running late.
Ari moves on.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy