Alexander Cockburn - Themes and Opinions

Themes and Opinions

There were a number of consistent themes in Cockburn's political writing, among them:

• Outspoken criticism of U.S. foreign policy, from its policies in Central America in the 1980s, including the Iran–Contra affair, to the First Gulf War in 1991, the Kosovo War in 1999, and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and 2003 invasion of Iraq.
• Criticism of the government of Israel based on its treatment of the Palestinians.
• Calls for political reform in the United States, mostly focused on criticizing the Democratic Party for failing to provide a progressive alternative to the Republican Party, as well as strong support for Ralph Nader's presidential candidacies in the 2000 and 2004 elections.
• Contempt for the mainstream establishment, in particular for public figures who, in his view, gain mainstream respectability by criticizing those to their left; targets have included The New York Times, President Barack Obama, Senator Bernie Sanders, the late academic Irving Howe, and some of his colleagues at The Nation, including Marc Cooper, David Corn and Eric Alterman. Cockburn was also highly critical of his former friend and colleague, Christopher Hitchens.
• Criticism of 9/11 conspiracy theories
• Regarding prior knowledge of Pearl Harbor, Cockburn maintains that "there is strong evidence that FDR did have knowledge that a Japanese naval force in the north Pacific was going to launch an attack on Pearl Harbor. It's quite possible Roosevelt thought it would be a relatively mild assault and thought it would be the final green light to get the US into the war."

Cockburn criticized the German government for passing restrictive laws against the Church of Scientology, invoking several comparisons with Nazi Germany. Although he stated that Scientology deserved scrutiny, he also maintained that the demonization of any particular unpopular group — even one officials consider a cult — presented a far more imminent danger than the activities of Scientologists, or the organization they belong to.

Cockburn denounced the economic and political sanctions imposed on the Iraqi government by the United Nations, but Cockburn was more aggressive than most in his criticisms of American and British actions during the 12 years between the formal resolution of the Persian Gulf War and the 2003 invasion. In a column published in 2000, Cockburn averred that the economic embargo imposed upon Iraq was "demonically designed to prompt gnawing, endless suffering throughout Iraq's social economy". In the same column, Cockburn concluded that every major Republican or Democratic nominee running in the 2000 presidential election was supportive of Iraq sanctions, and was therefore complicit in mass murder.

Cockburn also joined the widespread criticism of the subsequent occupation of Iraq by American, British and other national military forces (the self-described "Coalition of the Willing"). In the wake of the capture of Saddam Hussein, Cockburn penned a column entitled "How to kill Saddam", in which he argued that the ensuing trial of Hussein would be a mock tribunal, conducted by a "kangaroo court", and that Hussein's conviction and ultimate execution were foregone conclusions.

In contrast, Cockburn's position on global warming was consistent with views usually held by the right. He believed the phenomenon has not been proven to be caused by humans, citing the statements of Martin Hertzberg that rising CO₂ levels are a symptom, not a cause, of global warming, which Hertzberg asserts is the result of natural, predictable changes in the Earth's elliptic orbit. In fact, Hertzberg is a semi-retired explosives expert who does not claim to be a climatologist. Cockburn was also critical of the "greenhouse" explanation for warming by positing that it is incongruous with the laws of physics, specifically the second law of thermodynamics. He cited the research of Gerhard Gerlich and Ralf Tscheuschner's Falsification of the Atmospheric CO₂ Greenhouse Effects Within the Frame of Physics.

Cockburn was also critical of the originator of the Green Revolution concept. In an article in the Nation on Al Gore's 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, Cockburn made the following statement on Norman Borlaug's 1971 Nobel Prize: "Line up some of the more notorious Nobel Peace Prize recipients, such as Kissinger, and if you had to identify the biggest killer of all it was probably Norman Borlaug, one of the architects of the Green Revolution, which unleashed displacement, malnutrition, and death across the Third World." Cockburn had criticized Borlaug previously on this issue.

At times acerbic, Cockburn could also be gently and humorously ironic, once declaring Gerald Ford America's greatest president for doing the least damage (his administration was the shortest in the 20th century) and praising the Lewinsky scandal's entertainment value. In the same vein, he has also expressed his admiration for the beauty of both Tipper Gore and Laura Bush. His nudge-nudge, wink-wink brand of humor is demonstrated in his response to a question asking for a comparison between George W. Bush and Napoleon. He replied that he wasn't sure about Bush as Napoleon, "though surely Josephine's heart beats beneath Laura's delicious bosom".