Lucy Steigerwald

On Tuesday, CNN hosted the first Democrat debate of the 2016 presidential election. Present and accounted for were former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, former Rhode Island Governor (but also Republican Senator) Lincoln Chafee, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb, and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. A lot of domestic issues were … Continue reading “The Debate and the Myth of the Antiwar Democrat”

Not even hawks are happy about the US attack that on Saturday killed 22 people at a Kunduz, Afghanistan Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital. There is nothing positive to squeeze out of such an attack on a European (their name is officially Médecins Sans Frontières) aid group that is one of the less embarrassing Nobel … Continue reading “The U.S. Bombed a Hospital, Whoops”

The question of the legitimacy of drone strikes has occasionally bubbled up in media over the years. As with most international news, the media and the public have a short attention span for the issue. On September 30, the BBC published a survey on whether drone strikes “work.” Answering were a professor “who advised the … Continue reading “Whether Drones ‘Work,’ US Policy Is Still Rotten”

On the Cato Institute’s blog, the results from a Chicago Council Survey which includes data on partisan differences in hawkishness is headlined under the pessimistic “The Interventionist Itch.” Fundamentally, though Republicans lead the pack in terms of pro-intervention, Democrats are not very far behind, and Independents are at their best half hawkish. Every type of … Continue reading “The Ebb and Flow of Interventionist Feelings”

On September 16, The Washington Post reported that the Obama administration may be looking for a détente in the encryption wars. For proof, they offered a leaked draft of a National Security Council paper which said that Obama should not support a law mandating a decryption backdoor in tech devices. This bodes very well. For … Continue reading “Are We Getting Somewhere on Tech Privacy?”

While the death count still seemed like it might number in the tens of thousands, a few people remembered to warn against a disproportionate reaction to the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps the oddest thing about these events which provoked two wars and a constant drone presence in myriad countries, is that even on that day – … Continue reading “The Lesson of Blowback and 9/11”

Dick Cheney is a former vice president who had an enormous effect on public policy, and therefore on history. He should be interviewed by media outlets. He should be asked tough questions about every single aspect of his tenure in the White House. We cannot pretend that Cheney does not belong in history books, or … Continue reading “Who Is Listening to Dick Cheney?”

In April, former president George W. Bush told a group of supporters that he wanted to sit out of his brother’s campaign because voters have an aversion to the Oval Office becoming a family affair. On September 10, W. will be the man in charge at a fundraiser for Jeb in New York City. Former … Continue reading “The Inevitability of a War President”

The most surprising thing about former Congressman Ron Paul’s (R-TX) new Swords Into Plowshares is how long it took for Paul to devote an entire book to the topic of war. The Pittsburgh-born doctor who initially focused on monetary policy – the reason, in fact, for his first run for Congress – became more and … Continue reading “Ron Paul on Swords Into Plowshares“

Seven decades ago, the US dropped one atomic bomb on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki, Japan. The journalistic hook of that nice, big 7-0 means that mainstream outlets had an excuse to look back and consider the decision to use the nukes. The conclusion remains mixed. There’s some (vital) uncomfortableness with the idea that the … Continue reading “The Afterthought of Nagasaki”