Month: December 2004

Justin Logan, a research assistant in the foreign policy studies program at the Cato Institute, has come up with a useful new term: “Can we get a name for inappropriately invoking the appeasement of Nazis? This is a tactic frequently used by neocons and various sundry warmongers who wish to portray opposing various wars as … Continue reading “The Fallacy of ’39”

In a recent column documenting the alleged hopelessness of dragging the Democratic Party back into alignment with mainstream America, George Will unwittingly put his finger on what is soon likely to ail the GOP as well: the impossibility of reconciling its underlying agenda with the values of the American people. Will’s column draws much inspiration … Continue reading “Neocons and the Cult of State”

After weeks of rampant speculation and political intrigue of the highest order, the mystery of Viktor Yushchenko’s rapid and startling facial disfigurement was settled with a simple blood test and reported with bold finality: The Ukrainian presidential candidate was poisoned with dioxin. Not just routinely poisoned. No, it was a silver-medal performance, scoring a blood … Continue reading “Yushchenko’s Disease: A Tale of Two Poisons”

The dump is a dusty wasteland. Heaps of Baghdad’s rotting wastes are strewn about several square miles of the battered capital city. Engaged in their futile battle to remove the endless amounts of garbage from streets, blue garbage trucks rumble through the stinky dump, adding their loads of filth. Thirty-two-year-old Hattim lives in this wasteland … Continue reading “From Saddam’s Camp to America’s Dump”

What does George John Tenet have in common with Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul II? Well, all three are recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Tenet? The Director of Central Intelligence under both Clinton and Bush II? The DCI who justified Clinton’s Operation Desert Fox in 1998 and Bush’s Operation Iraqi Freedom in … Continue reading “Slam-Dunk Tenet Gets a Medal”

In the aftermath of the suicide bombing of the Mosul mess hall, we are being admonished anew we must stay the course in Iraq. But “Stay the course!” is no longer enough. President Bush needs to go on national television and tell us the unvarnished truth. Why are we still there? For some of Bush’s … Continue reading “‘Staying the Course’ Won’t Do”

BELGRADE – A new war has broken out between Serbs and Croats, this time without casualties and bloodshed because the battleground is cyberspace. In less than a week, hackers on both sides have crashed the most popular Web sites, leaving challenging messages but short of the hatred the two nations found for one another in … Continue reading “Serb-Croat Battleground Moves to Cyberspace”

While President George W. Bush’s November reelection topped the Associated Press‘ (AP) annual listing of the top 10 news stories for 2004, the other leading choices suggested that the news media might have helped him in his quest. The list, which reflected the votes of 234 national and local editors, news directors, and similar "gatekeepers," … Continue reading “Terrorism Shaped 2004 News Agenda”

One of the oldest U.S. overseas relief organizations has called for the United States to immediately withdraw from Iraq in light of the continuing carnage and Washington’s failure to restore basic services or revive the country’s economy. The statement by the Philadelphia-based American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) came a day after U.S. forces suffered their … Continue reading “US Relief Group Calls for Iraq Withdrawal”

Even before retiring, Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet – who had presided over two of the worst intelligence failures in history – tried to salvage something of his reputation. In remarks he made last February at his alma mater, Georgetown University, Tenet concluded by saying, "Last year in my annual World Wide Threat testimony … Continue reading “What’s All the Fuss About A.Q. Khan?”