They keep telling us that in war truth is the first casualty, which is nonsense since it implies that in times of peace truth stays out of the sick bay or the graveyard. – Alexander Cockburn
The First Law of Journalism: to confirm existing prejudice, rather than contradict it. – Alexander Cockburn
The weapon of the advocate is the sword of the soldier, not the dagger of the assassin. – Alexander Cockburn
Be careful about Burma. Most people cannot remember whether it was Siam and has become Thailand, or whether it is now part of Malaysia and should be called Sri Lanka. – Alexander Cockburn
The travel writer seeks the world we have lost – the lost valleys of the imagination. – Alexander Cockburn
In its attempt to crush the Black Panthers, the FBI engineered frequent arrests on the flimsiest of pretexts. – Alexander Cockburn
Wear the badge of environmental radicalism, and you’re a citizen automatically under suspicion. – Alexander Cockburn
A childish soul not inoculated with compulsory prayer is a soul open to any religious infection. – Alexander Cockburn
England in the late 1940s was famously grim. As I remember it, London back then was a very dirty place, from coal dust and smoke, from the grit stirred up every day by the jackhammers still clearing out rubble from the Blitz. – Alexander Cockburn
By 1967, J. Edgar Hoover had concluded that the Black Panther Party had replaced the Communist Party as the gravest threat to national security. – Alexander Cockburn
Pose a political threat to Business As Usual, and sooner or later, mostly sooner, someone will try to kill you. – Alexander Cockburn