More Security, Less Secure

The Washington, D.C., metro is following in the footsteps of the New York subway and is now conducting random searches of passengers. The justification given for further eroding the Fourth Amendment (which guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their...

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Missile Defense and
the American Empire

Less than a week after the U.S. presidential election, the Iranians claimed to have tested a new, more accurate missile with sufficient range to reach Israel and southeastern Europe. So it looks like the Obama administration will get tested early on two issues: Iran...

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What Happens in a Police State…

By now, everyone is familiar with the advertising slogan "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" (although the actual Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Slogan is "What happens here, stays here"). The phrase is also the inspiration for a movie...

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Can Afghanistan Be Won?

According to the Britain's highest military commander in Afghanistan, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, "We're not going to win this war." This is in stark contrast to the political rhetoric of our two presidential candidates, who are both calling for more...

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The Pakistan Dilemma

Fellow Antiwar.com columnists (and friends) Alan Bock and Ivan Eland have recently written about Pakistan, so I hope readers will forgive me for piling on. But it's hard to ignore Pakistan at the moment. On Saturday, a truck bomb killed more than 50 people –...

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What $700 Billion?

In accepting the nomination as the Republican candidate for U.S. president, Sen. John McCain proclaimed that if elected, "We are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much." One can't help but wonder what $700 billion the good...

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Georgia On My Mind

For 16 days I had hoped the world would stand still so I could watch the spectacle and history of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, on my widescreen HDTV. Although there is certainly an element of national pride (both for the host country and all the...

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My Energy Plan Is
Better Than Yours

In addition to dueling over Afghanistan (the subject of my last column), Senators McCain and Obama are trying to one-up each other when it comes to energy. Most notably, the McCain campaign recently released an ad that essentially blames Obama for $4-a-gallon gasoline...

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Bidding War Over Afghanistan

Barack Obama and John McCain are currently engaged in a bidding war to see who can promise more troops in Afghanistan. In an op-ed published by the New York Times last week, Obama wrote that if he is elected president he will provide "at least two additional...

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Is Iran Still an Option?

A question I'm often asked is whether military action against Iran is still an option for the Bush administration. The short answer is "yes." Last week, when a reporter raised the issue of "a spate of recent stories about possible military action...

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