George Hunsinger

Detaining suspects indefinitely without charging them is not easily reconciled with democracy. Worry about such methods seems to be migrating across political and religious lines. The public has reason to suspect that many detainees held at U.S. detention facilities in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and elsewhere – some for several years – have nothing to … Continue reading “The Rights of Detainees: Who Is Protecting Whom From What?”

Back in September 2002 James Webb, assistant secretary of defense and secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration, raised a specter that has come back to haunt us. “The issue before us,” he wrote in the Washington Post, “is not simply whether the United States should end the regime of Saddam Hussein, but whether … Continue reading “A Thirty Years War?”

We are more than 225 religious leaders from a wide diversity of backgrounds. Notable within our ranks are many Latino and Latina leaders who are more concerned to oppose torture than to applaud appointing a Hispanic to the cabinet. Whatever our backgrounds, we all agree that this appointment should be concerned with the content of … Continue reading “What Kind of People Have We Become?”

One year after “Mission Accomplished” was proclaimed by President Bush, America may have lost the war in Iraq. Insurgency, instability and social chaos, the familiar problems dogging the occupation, were exacerbated in April by mutiny, collapsing authority and military deadlock. Then came the devastating revelations of atrocity – first in the brutal siege of Fallujah, … Continue reading “Meltdown in Iraq”

Contrary to President Bush, it is clear that Saddam Hussein posed no “grave and gathering threat” to the U.S. However much a monster he may have been, he possessed no weapons of mass destruction. Due to the severe regime of UN sanctions and weapons investigations, he had long since been effectively defanged. One year after … Continue reading “Occupational Hazards: Iraq One Year Later”

Contrary to what most Americans believe, the U.S. is in deep trouble in Iraq, and its policies are adrift. Especially ominous are problems surrounding the June 30 plan for elections. If direct elections are held, the Shi’ites, with 60% of the population, will prevail. If, however, their representation is watered down by resort to closed … Continue reading “Iraq: The Case for War Crumbles”

The war in Iraq by no means ceased on May 1 when President Bush announced the end of major hostilities. It simply entered a new and ominous phase. It is the war that keeps on killing. Not least, it keeps on killing American troops. As long as U.S. body bags keep piling up, this war … Continue reading “The Iraq Dilemma:
An Illegitimate Occupation”

As I have listened to the discussions about Saddam Hussein and Iraq, some disturbing questions have arisen. As an ordinary citizen with no special expertise in foreign policy, I am unable to get to the bottom of them. As a skeptic, however, who remembers how the Gulf of Tonkin incident of 1964 was made the … Continue reading “Before the Shooting Starts”

Many supporters of the U.S. war against Iraq suppose that it will be won quickly and easily. Not all responsible analysts agree. Two doubters are particularly interesting, one opposed to attacking Iraq, the other supporting it. Three scenarios are outlined by Immanuel Wallerstein, who teaches at Yale. First, there is the devout hope that the … Continue reading “Many Ways the US Attack on Iraq May Fail”