Month: September 2003

Conservatives have never believed in massive foreign aid. Our occupation of Iraq has become the largest foreign aid program in the history of the world. We are building or rebuilding thousands of Iraqi schools, giving free health care to Iraqi citizens, and even making back payments to the Iraqi military and Iraqi retirees. Last week … Continue reading “There Is Nothing Conservative About the US Policy in Iraq”

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I wrote this review of Jim Bovard’s important new book, Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice and Peace to Rid the World of Evil, for The American Conservative, and they have (quite unexpectedly!) put it online – and thus given me a day off. Actually, a day “off,” for me, consists of writing another review … Continue reading “INSTEAD OF A COLUMN”

The most plausible reason I could come up with for the curious dance of denial by top administration officials regarding a direct connection between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 terrorist attacks is that it was a short-term political effort to defuse Vice President Cheney’s rather extravagant and over-the-top assertions Sunday before last on “Meet the … Continue reading “Did Bush Destroy the Administration Case for War?”

The class action suit names 11 companies and 33 banks alleged to have helped Iraq with its chemical weapons program in the 1980’s, despite knowledge Saddam Hussein was actively using WMD against both Iranians and his own people. At the time, Reagan’s Middle East envoy was one Donald Rumsfeld, hard at work opening doors for … Continue reading “Gulf War Vets Sue Saddam’s WMD Suppliers”

A desperate Saddam-on-the-run is reportedly in secret negotiations with the Americans – he’s having second thoughts about his formerly expressed belief that “that no honorable hand has stretched out to greet” the “miscreant, murderous and cowardly occupier,” as he put it in his message of late April, “only those of traitors and valets.” It must … Continue reading “ANOTHER 9/11?”

The neo-conservative media machine has been hard at work lately drumming up support for the $87 billion appropriation to extend our precarious occupation of Iraq. Opposition to this funding, according to the Secretary of Defense, encourages our enemies and hinders the war against terrorism. This is a distortion of the facts and is nothing more … Continue reading “We Cannot Afford Another $87 Billion in Iraq”

How much more foolishness from the Bush Administration can we expect before next year’s elections? US Treasury Secretary John Snow’s visit on the heels of the DPRK talks was a failure. He met with a few toadies and was sent on his way amidst a hail of protest from Chinese and foreign economists who see … Continue reading “Mao Exonerated – by Chinese Capitalism”

Presidential elections historically are predicated on the answers to questions that can’t be asked in public. Would Reagan have won in 1980 if the Republicans hadn’t cut a deal with Iran to release US hostages only upon his assumption of the Presidency? Why didn’t Clinton, in 2001, simply refuse to abdicate the Presidency rather than … Continue reading “Homeland Uncertainty: The Price of Losing the Terror War Is Unthinkable”

It would be funny if it wasn’t so ominous. Remember those “weapons of mass destruction” the Iraqis were supposed to be holding, poised to strike us at any moment? Yeah, that’s right, the ones that turned out to not exist – or were destroyed after Gulf War I. Or something. Well, anyway, it turns out … Continue reading “ARE YOU SYRIA-OUS?”