Month: June 2005

Professor Robert Pape’s brilliant new book Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism gives Americans an urgently needed basis for devising a strategy to defeat Osama bin Laden and other Islamist militants. In scholarly and low-key prose, Pape delivers the results of his own extensive research and that done by the University of … Continue reading “Throwing America a Life Preserver”

If Pinochet Is Guilty, so Is Bush“Pinochet was called to power. He put down terrorism.”Is this an example of American revisionism? Feeling guilty about America’s role in the Chilean overthrow? Here are some facts you seem to have overlooked.CIA Director Richard Helms told of how President Nixon gave him “the marshall’s baton” to conduct covert … Continue reading “Backtalk, June 10, 2005”

As I travel around this country speaking about my experience as an unembedded journalist in Iraq, calling for an end to the occupation, I am inevitably asked the same question: “If the U.S. military leaves Iraq, won’t there be a civil war?” This, I think, is the wrong question. Since toppling Saddam Hussein in April … Continue reading “The Only Hope to Avert Civil War”

The French may have spurned the European Union’s Constitution for the wrong reasons, but overall their instincts were sound. That the pro-free market Dutch have seconded the non vote with a resounding nee ought to give pause to the collectivist superstate’s illiberal American supporters, the most notorious of whom are concentrated in the Bush State … Continue reading “Adieu to the Evil EU”

Behind the "Srebrenica" Atrocity Video Several minutes of video footage made public late last week pushed the issue of Kosovo out of the Balkans limelight and focused it firmly on Bosnia. A film showing the execution of six men in civilian clothing by a paramilitary group known as "The Scorpions," procured by a notorious purveyor … Continue reading “Death, Lies, and Videotape”

Joshua Frank is the author of Left Out! How Liberals Helped Elect George W. Bush. The book is an analysis of the 2004 presidential campaign. Frank’s writings appear regularly on the Internet, and he is a contributor to Dime’s Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils. In this interview, we examine what the … Continue reading “The Left Must Learn From 2004”

In what appears to be a concerted effort to discredit independent human rights advocates, the Bush administration and its allies in the media have been engaging in a series of attacks against Amnesty International, the world’s largest human rights organization and winner of the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize. Amnesty International has received support from literally … Continue reading “US Government Versus Amnesty International: A Short History”

The recent votes in France and the Netherlands against the proposed constitution of the European Union are not merely political phenomena. They represent significant actions in the development of Fourth Generation war. Why? Because the root cause of Fourth Generation war is a crisis of legitimacy of the state, and the two referenda saw the … Continue reading “Striking Back at the Empire”

The following essay is adapted from remarks made at a Capitol Hill briefing on Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies and Foreign Policy In Focus. The event was held two days before the 30 th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. I‘m often asked whether there aren’t … Continue reading “The Courage to Talk Withdrawal”

DAMASCUS – As Syria’s Ba’ath Party gathers in Damascus to grapple with the issue of reforms, delegates may not have the luxury of quiet contemplation that the country’s president Bashar Assad urged on them during his opening speech on Monday. While Assad warned delegates to the meeting of the so-called Regional Command of his "Arab … Continue reading “Syria: All Set for a Great Shuffle Forward?”