Alexander Cockburn

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This page is on the journalist Alexander Cockburn.

For the Lord Chief Justice of that name, see Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet.

Image:Alexander Cockburn.jpg Alexander Claud Cockburn (pronounced Template:IPA, "co-burn"), born June 6, 1941, is a progressive Irish journalist who has lived and worked in the United States since 1973. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair he edits the political newsletter CounterPunch. He also writes the "Beat the Devil" column for The Nation and a weekly syndicated column for the Los Angeles Times. Cockburn is also a regular contributor to the Anderson Valley Advertiser and the news and opinion blog LewRockwell.com.

Born in Scotland, Cockburn grew up in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland, son of the well-known Socialist author and journalist Claud Cockburn. After studying at Oxford, Alexander worked in London as a reporter and commentator, and after moving to the United States wrote extensively for numerous publications, including The New York Review of Books, Esquire, and Harper's. Until 1983 Cockburn was a writer with The Village Voice, originating its longstanding "Press Clips" column, but he was suspended for accepting a grant from a Palestinian organization without disclosing this. He left the publication upon being offered the "Beat the Devil" column with The Nation. Since leaving the Voice he has also written columns for the Wall Street Journal, New York Press and the New Statesman.

Over the years, Cockburn's writings have consistently displayed certain themes including:

Outspoken criticism of US foreign policy, from its policies in Central America in the 1980s, including the Iran-contra scandal, 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 criticising 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, garner mainstream respectability by criticising those to their left; targets have included the New York Times, Sen. Barack Obama, representative Bernie Sanders, the late academic Irving Howe and some of his The Nation colleagues, including Marc Cooper, David Corn [1] and Eric Alterman. Cockburn has also been highly critical of his former friend and colleague, Christopher Hitchens [2].

At times acerbic, Cockburn can also be gently ironic, once declaring Gerald Ford America's greatest president for doing the least damage and praising the Lewinsky scandal's entertainment value.[3] In the same vein, he has also expressed his admiration for the beauty of both Tipper Gore and Laura Bush.

Alan Dershowitz recently stated that Cockburn was one of three leaders (along with Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky) who are engaged in an attempt to discredit and malign him [4], [5].

Cockburn has two brothers, Andrew Cockburn and Patrick Cockburn who are also journalists. Journalists Stephanie and Laura Flanders and actress Olivia Wilde are his nieces.

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Books

Incompatibles (1967) (co-edited with Robin Blackburn)
Student Power (1970) (co-edited with Robin Blackburn)
Idle Passion: Chess and the Dance of Death (1975)
Smoke: Another Jimmy Carter Adventure (1978) (with James Ridgeway)
Political Ecology (1979) (co-edited with James Ridgeway)
Corruptions of Empire (1988)
The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon (1989) (with Susanna Hecht)
The Golden Age Is in Us: Journeys and Encounters (1995)
Washington Babylon (1995) (with Ken Silverstein)
Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press (1998) (with Jeffrey St. Clair)
5 Days That Shook The World: The Battle for Seattle and Beyond (2000) (co-edited with Jeffrey St. Clair)
Al Gore: A User's Manual (2000) (with Jeffrey St. Clair)
CounterPunch: The Journalism That Rediscovers America (2002) (co-edited with Jeffrey St. Clair)
The Politics of Anti-Semitism (2003) (co-edited with Jeffrey St. Clair)
Serpents in the Garden (2004) (co-edited with Jeffrey St. Clair)
Imperial Crusades (2004) (co-edited with Jeffrey St. Clair)
Dime's Worth of Difference (2004) (co-edited with Jeffrey St. Clair)