Bernard Weiner

Recently, I was the guest on a radio talk-show hosted by a thoroughly decent far-right Republician. I got verbally battered, but returned fire and, I think, held my own. Toward the end of the hour, I mentioned that the National Security Strategy – promulgated by the Bush Administration in September 2002 – now included attacking … Continue reading “A PNAC Primer: How We Got Into This Mess”

First, they came for the terrorists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a terrorist. Then they came for the foreigners, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a foreigner. Then they came for the Arab-Americans, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t Arab-American. Then they came for the radical dissenters, and … Continue reading “Talkin’ About the F-Word”

As the first year in the new millennium draws to a close, it might help us sort out what’s happened in the past three months – and thus how to respond – by compiling a summary list of What We Know. WHAT WE KNOW As was the case with various other major mass-murder bombings (East … Continue reading “25 Things We’ve Learned Since 9/11”

It’s been nearly two months since the September 11 mass-slaughters, and the U.S. response more and more resembles that period when America was beginning its long slide into Vietnam. I grant you that it’s not an exact comparison – one obvious difference, because the 9-11 attack took place on our own soil, is that the … Continue reading “The Vietnam-Afghanistan Mirror”

What Bush Said "How do I respond when I see that in some Islamic countries there is vitriolic hatred for America? I’ll tell you how I respond: I’m amazed. I’m amazed that there’s such misunderstanding of what our country is about that people would hate us. I am – like most Americans, I just can’t … Continue reading “What Bush Should Have Said”

I am one of many deeply conflicted ex-activists who worked to stop the war on Vietnam but isn’t (at least as of October 10) quite sure how to act in the current situation. Let’s get the bona fides out of the way first. In the 1960s and early-1970s, I was involved majorly in the anti-war … Continue reading “A Conflicted Activist Speaks Out”