Is the Balkans back in Washington vogue? After a couple of seemingly isolationist years (that were, of course, nothing of the sort) when the limelight was on the Middle East, there's been a renewed push by the forces of punditry to get the peninsula back on the...
Mass Demonstrations by Women, Others, Against Sudden Islamization of Iraqi Law
The Baghdad/London daily az-Zaman reports that there were widespread demonstrations on Tuesday by women against the order decreeing abolition of Iraq's uniform civil codes in favor of religious law, which they say "repeals women's rights" in Iraq. This story appears...
Understanding Fourth Generation War
Rather than commenting on the specifics of the war with Iraq, I thought it might be a good time to lay out a framework for understanding that and other conflicts. The framework is the Four Generations of Modern War. I developed the framework of the first three...
George W. Bush, Pod Person
The New York Times's newest neocon columnist, David Brooks, laptop bombardier Max Boot and others who have taken offense at the neocons-hijacked-the-White House meme have indignantly asked: doesn't the President have a mind of his own? Plainly, now, the answer is a...
A War in Search of a Reason
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Neocons’ Manual for Global Warmongering
If hard-core neo-conservatives Richard Perle and David Frum had their way, the Bush administration would be issuing ultimatums on virtually a daily basis. In their new book, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror, Perle, the well-connected former chairman of the...
The Crumbling Case for War
It is a little frustrating to write that the main hope is that the American people will be more vigilant the next time a president and his administration put on a full court press on behalf of a dubious war. At this time, however, it is probably the best we can hope...
War-gate
In the run-up to war the sheer volume of lies produced by this administration was meant to overwhelm Congress, the media, and the people with its inventiveness. In a veritable frenzy of prevarication, the War Party came up with some real whoppers – and one howler...
Sorrows of Empire:
From the author of the prophetic national bestseller Blowback, a startling look at militarism, American style, and its consequences abroad and at home. In the years after the Soviet Union imploded, the United States was described first as the globe's "lone...
Note to David Brooks: That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore
Newsflash: Whoopi Goldberg isn't Jewish. Neither is Donald Rumsfeld. Whew! Now I can criticize both without being an anti-Semite. Or maybe not. After all, Ms. Goldberg is part of the Hollywood elite, and by "Hollywood," I obviously mean Jerusalem. Mr. Rumsfeld may be...