The evidence that something is causing people to go slightly bonkers – is it something in the water? the air? the stars? – continues to pile up. For starters, check out the "logic" of Rep. Charles Rangel's bright idea to bring back the draft in...
Slouching into Iraq?
I've been working on pieces on the history of Iraq for the Orange County Register, and had occasion to speak with Robert Rabil, project manager of the Iraq Research and Documentation Project at the Iraq Foundation and author of the new book (I haven't read it yet)...
Conscription Is Slavery
Two Democratic Congressman introduced legislation last week to revive the military draft, taking a race-baiting shot at the President and his war plans. Their idea is not new, however, as similar proposals were introduced by Republicans in the months following...
What Are Friends For?
I have received a lot of curses in my lifetime, and here and there some compliments, too. But I have never received a compliment like this one: an important party, represented in the Knesset, has mentioned my name in its official election platform. Under the heading...
Turning Point
Antiwar sentiment is on the rise, but is the antiwar movement? A steadily increasing number of Americans oppose invading Iraq, and a full two-thirds want to see a "smoking gun" before we set a course for empire. Around the world, opposition is overwhelming,...
Ethnic Cleansing: Some Common Reactions
My previous column – "Ethnic Cleansing: Past, Present and Future" – attracted more reactions than any other. Some of them were supportive and encouraging, for which I am grateful. Many were outraged and even offensive, for which I am even more...
War and Its Discontents
Of late, sundry elevated Neo-Conservatives have been facing up to the implications of their demands on History’s Muse. In passing, I note that for a movement said, "not to exist," they have been all over the place with their latest cogitations. Have...
War Party In Retreat
It may be in somewhat poor taste to say "I told you so," but I can't resist. My prognosis that the Iraq war, far from being "inevitable," as we've been endlessly told, has been postponed if not put on the back burner indefinitely has been all but...
Don’t Count on China
Bush keeps hoping either China or Russia will step in and persuade North Korea to calm down, put away the nukes and let the US go about its business in the Middle East. But in recent meetings the two nations made it clear that they believed it was Bush's big mouth...
Hail Caesar?
The prospect of a war to subdue and occupy Iraq has brought the neo-imperialists out of the closet, so to speak, and inaugurated a new honesty among political commentators on the left as well as the right. As Americans wake up to the brutal reality of a war that could...