Month: January 2005

In the Dec. 29 New York Times, George Bush said of Osama bin Laden: “His vision of the world is one in which there is no freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and/or freedom of conscience.” But in the president’s zealous fervor to export democracy at the end of a gun barrel, the he has … Continue reading “Against War? Stop Buying It”

NEW YORK – Like President George W. Bush’s nominee for attorney general, his choice for Homeland Security czar is likely to face stiff opposition from some Democratic senators and human rights advocates because of what they say were abuses of civil liberties during his service in the Justice Department. Michael Chertoff was assistant attorney general … Continue reading “Chertoff Wrote Blueprint for Sept. 12 Crackdown”

On Sunday, the U.S. periodical Newsweek revealed that the Pentagon is actively considering an effort in Iraq that human rights groups say more closely resembles a dark and desperate homage to D’Aubuissonism than an actual policy initiative. Harking back to the days when the Ronald Reagan administration and its Salvadoran proxies, led by the extreme … Continue reading “Death Squads: Neither Quaint nor Obsolete”

JERUSALEM – Mahmoud Abbas must have unleashed a great sigh of relief when the results of the Palestinian election were announced Monday and it became clear he had won over 60 percent of the vote – a result he can present as a broad, popular mandate. But the electioneering was the easy part. Whether the … Continue reading “Now Comes the Hard Part for Abbas”

“We deny that the obligation of all citizens to support their Government in times of grave National peril applies to the present situation. If an Administration may with impunity ignore the issues upon which it was chosen, deliberately create a condition of war anywhere on the face of the globe, debauch the civil service for … Continue reading “Recalling the Anti-Imperialist League”

Forget the “good news” from Iraq that Glenn Reynolds, Arthur Chrenkoff, and the Pollyanna Brigade keep pushing, because this is the real news: “Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, recently returned from his second fact-finding mission to Iraq, this latest with a small group of fellow members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, including committee chairman … Continue reading “Heading for the Exits”

How generous are Americans? Inconceivably so. An official collecting private donations for victims of the Asian tsunami has described American largess as a “tidal wave of generosity.” How generous are Americans compared to everyone else? Canada’s Fraser Institute measured the "generosity gap" that separates Americans and Canadians, in both "the extent and the depth of … Continue reading “Yes to US Aid, No to USAID”

Three years ago in the Washington Post, Ken Adelman, formerly an assistant to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, promised us “Cakewalk in Iraq.” I wonder how Mr. Adelman feels about his promise today. In his article, Adelman disparaged Brookings Institution military analysts and the redoubtable Edward Luttwak for “fear-mongering.” Adelman dismissed concerns about U.S. casualties and … Continue reading “Dear Ken: About That Cakewalk…”

Since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Sept 11, 2001, the conventional wisdom among American policymakers has been that the United States, its allies and the entire international community have been forced to place the threat of international terrorism on the top of their policy agendas. Indeed, the notion that the "war … Continue reading “Fears of Terrorism Are Unjustified”

AMMAN, Jordan – It has been nearly two years since Fernando Suarez del Solar’s son Jesus, a lance corporal in the U.S. Marines, died during the invasion of Iraq. The father’s grief is still fierce, but rather than succumbing to feelings of vengeance, he has chosen instead to bring medical aid to Iraqi children and … Continue reading “Families of the Fallen Unite in Grief and Anger”