The Agony of Iraq, the Country of My Birth

As a 17-year-old in 1962, I was one of a group of about 10 Iraqi students doing A-levels in a college in the UK. The group included three Christians and one Kurd; the rest were Muslims. Please do not ask me how many of the Muslims were Shia and how many were Sunni. I...

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The Return of Waterboarding?

During the recent Republican presidential primary debates, three candidates said without hesitation that they would authorize waterboarding as an interrogation technique if elected president. In their recent memoirs, both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney admitted with...

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2011: The Year in Civil Liberties

It’s been a year of populist uprisings, economic downturns, political assassinations, and one scandal after another. Gold prices soared, while the dollar plummeted. The Arab Spring triggered worldwide protests, including the Occupy Wall Street protests here in...

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A Tale of Two Cities: Weimar and Washington

Mark Twain is credited with saying that “History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.” Today’s United States is often compared to other historic nations, whether at their prime or about to decline and fall depending on one’s own political perspective....

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The Bahrain Uprising in Numbers

  Population of Bahrain: 1.2 million Number of citizens: 535,000 Percentage of citizens who are Shia Muslim: 70 Percentage of those in government: 13 Number of senior positions they fill in the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Cabinet...

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The NDAA Repeals More Rights

Listen to Rep. Paul deliver this address. Little by little, in the name of fighting terrorism, our Bill of Rights is being repealed. The 4th Amendment has been rendered toothless by the PATRIOT Act. No more can we truly feel secure in our persons, houses, papers, and...

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Sometimes, Bad-Tasting Medicine Needs to Be Swallowed

Like a mother forcing her children to take bad-tasting medicine for their own good, disgruntled American “allies” have recently compelled the financially ailing U.S. superpower to scale back meddling abroad that it can no longer afford. The United States — always...

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