Month: November 2003

The ultimate cost of war is almost always the loss of liberty. True defensive wars and revolutionary wars against tyrants may preserve or establish a free society, as did our war against the British. But these wars are rare. Most wars are unnecessary, dangerous, and cause senseless suffering with little being gained. The result of … Continue reading “Conscription – The Terrible Price of War”

After two years of dominating US foreign policy, are unilateralist hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush losing power to the so-called realists whom they have long disdained? Although internal fights within the administration on issues such as policy towards Syria, Iran and North Korea remain fierce, there are growing indications that the … Continue reading “Foreign Policy Realists Rally”

A classified FBI intelligence memorandum, leaked to the New York Times last weekend, has raised concern among some civil-rights groups and lawmakers who worry that it reflects a growing tendency on the part of the Bush administration to promote security measures at the expense of key freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism. Among other … Continue reading “FBI Plans for Antiwar
Movement Spur Opposition”

e112603.html

I am so sick of George W. Bush: sick of his petulant preppie voice, sick of his studied belligerence, and, most of all, damned sick of his threats. If we don’t toe the line and support his crazed foreign policy of “preemptive self-defense,” he constantly claims, we will reap the whirlwind. As he puts it … Continue reading “Go F*ck Yourself, Mr. President”

Are the consequences of the US invasion of Iraq likely to be a secular, democratic Middle East and a victory over terrorism, as the Bush administration claims? Or has the Bush administration embarked on an adventure with unintended consequences beyond its imagination? Hegemonic powers are not immune from miscalculation. When Napoleon marched his Grand Army … Continue reading “America’s New Agenda”

International human rights groups are raising new questions about US counterinsurgency tactics in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In a letter sent to Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld late last week, London-based Amnesty International asked whether the US military has adopted a policy of demolishing houses of the families of suspected insurgents in Iraq. At the same … Continue reading “US War Tactics Slammed by Rights Groups”

As the demonstrations last week in Miami over an effort to establish something resembling free trade in the Western hemisphere show us, those who are opposed to military war – or at least this military war conducted by this administration – do not always agree on every issue. Our coalition includes people who find the … Continue reading “Any Trade That’s Peaceful”

Four former heads of Israeli security, speaking in Israel, have warned the government that failure to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians will lead to catastrophe. These men are not some starry-eyed peaceniks. They are all former heads of Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, which makes the FBI look like the Boy Scouts. You … Continue reading “Four Former Heads Of Israeli Security Speak Out”

Washington is just full of “confidential” memoranda that, somehow, get published in the newspapers; they waft down the boulevards of the Imperial City like snowflakes in a storm, until the city is knee-deep in them. There was Rummy’s supposedly super-secret missive expressing something less than breezy optimism about the war he and his neocon buddies … Continue reading “FBI EYE ON THE ANTIWAR GUY”