Doug Bandow

Ann Hagedorn, Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919 (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 543 pp., $27.00. The more awful the war, the more joyous the peace, or at least the moment the war ends. The peace itself often disappoints, like that after World War I, which acted as a mere interlude … Continue reading “Savage Peace: Wilson’s Failure”

There’s a certain perverse charm to President George W. Bush’s charge that Democrats are “more interested fighting political battles in Washington than providing our troops what they need.” In the same vein, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that “the president is going to, as commander in chief, need to do what the country needs … Continue reading “Congress Must End the Iraq War”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) may be committed to war – in Iraq, against North Korea, and most everywhere else. But he occasionally speaks the truth, if only inadvertently. Like when he announced his presidential candidacy on the David Letterman show, observing that Americans are frustrated with Iraq: “We’ve wasted a lot of our most precious … Continue reading “The Waste of War”

Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution Michael D. Tanner Cato Institute, 2007 321 pp. The Republican Party once presented itself – and was even widely thought of – as the party of limited government. Today it is something quite different. Actually, it is many different things. It is the … Continue reading “Leviathan on the Right“

Taiwan has been an ally and friend of the U.S. for more than five decades. But with the emergence of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the world stage, the so-called Republic of China (ROC) has become a possible flashpoint for war. If America and the PRC come to blows, it likely will be … Continue reading “Taiwan, a Spark Plug for War”

The United States has maintained troops in South Korea for more than a half century. Since 1950, Washington has defended the Republic of Korea (ROK) with blood and treasure. During that time the ROK has gone from an impoverished, authoritarian state to a prosperous democracy. Yet America’s commitment remains essentially unchanged. Why? It’s certainly not … Continue reading “Why are We Still in Korea?”

Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke, The Silence of the Rational Center: Why American Foreign Policy is Failing (New York: Basic, 2007), 312 pp., $26.95. by Doug Bandow The supposedly indispensable nation is having a tough time in what is supposed to be the unipolar moment. The U.S. might be the unipower, the globe’s sole superpower, … Continue reading “Big Dangerous Ideas”

A majority of the governing party in Congress voted to repudiate the commander-in-chief in war. The Senate Minority Leader complained that the proposed resolution opposing the mission while supporting the troops sent “a dangerous, duplicitous message.” A leading supporter of the president declared: “to support it would be a vote in favor of cutting our … Continue reading “The War Lobby Abandons the Troops”

The Iraq war continues to consume lives, both American and Iraqi. The conflict also is burning mountains of cash. No wonder U.S. military outlays are spiraling out of control. Earlier this month, the Bush administration proposed a complex $715 billion defense spending package. There is $481 billion for standard Pentagon operations in 2008. There is … Continue reading “The Great Defense Budget Black Hole”

Timothy W. Crawford and Alan J. Kuperman, ed.’s, Gambling on Humanitarian Intervention: Moral Hazard, Rebellion and Civil War (New York: Routledge, 2006), 100 pp. The wreck of the Bush crusade to democratize Iraq – let alone the Mideast, let alone the world! – has effectively discredited what had been a growing demand for humanitarian intervention … Continue reading “Gambling on Humanitarian Intervention”