There's much talk of reforming the criminal justice system: libertarian-ish GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul is making the unfairness of sentences that have a disparate impact on minorities a major theme of his campaign, which is all to the good. • But what...
Endless Wars in Middle East More About Money Than Threats
Mr. Speaker, the week before last, the greatly respected conservative columnist Thomas Sowell wrote: "What lessons might we learn from the whole experience of the Iraq war? If nothing else, we should never again imagine that we can engage in nation building in...
US Intervention Will Only Make Middle Eastern Turmoil Worse
Recently, the U.S. government has been dealt setbacks in five of the seven developing, Islamic countries in which its military recently has attacked or invaded since 9/11 – Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Yemen. In the other two countries, Pakistan and Somalia,...
Endless Wars in Middle East More About Money Than Threats
Speech on the house floor on June 24, 2015. Mr. Speaker, the week before last, the greatly respected conservative columnist Thomas Sowell wrote: "What lessons might we learn from the whole experience of the Iraq war? If nothing else, we should never again imagine...
Kurds and Shi’ites Unite to Fight; 98 Killed across Iraq
Clean Break to Dirty Wars
To understand today’s crises in Iraq, Syria, and Iran, one must grasp their shared Lebanese connection. This assertion may seem odd. After all, what's the big deal about Lebanon? That little country hasn’t had top headlines since Israel deigned to bomb and invade it...
War Crimes? Us???
War is the business of killing the "enemy", in order to impose your will on them. Therefore, "humane war" is an oxymoron. War itself is a crime. There are few exceptions. I would exempt the war against Nazi Germany, since it was conducted against a...
Militants Execute Their Own in Anbar; 153 Killed across Iraq
The Human Rights Crisis: A Problem Of Perception?
When Israel is criticized about its rights-abusive policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the refrain most often heard among local politicians is that the government’s hasbara – the Israeli propaganda machine – is inadequate. The problem, in other words, is not...
The Obergefell Effect: Gay Marriage and US Foreign Policy
No matter what one thinks of the historic Supreme Court decision establishing the right of gay couples to marry, it is bound to have an effect on the conduct of US foreign policy – perhaps quite a substantial one. The United States is a global empire: what we do...