Antiwar.com

Back in mid-October, I noted that informal “walls” and exhibits to honor those Americans (and sometimes Iraqis) who fell – and continue to fall – in the Bush administration’s war and occupation of choice in Iraq have been arising on- and off-line for some time. I suggested then that “the particular dishonor this administration has … Continue reading “Bush’s Expanding ‘Fallen Legion’”

Many in my profession – journalism – were understandably outraged to discover that in a get-together with his partner in crime Tony Blair in April 2004, President Bush allegedly made a bad-taste gag about bombing the Qatar headquarters of the Arab TV channel al-Jazeera. There is a memo doing the rounds, leaked by two British … Continue reading “Al-Jazeera, Serbia, and Liberal Amnesia”

“Is the United States now going to cut and run in Iraq?” asks Bronwen Maddox, foreign editor of the London Times. While the answer from President Bush remains a defiant “No!” the question is now being raised by the most hawkish of his backers. And understandably so. For John McCain’s call for sending 10,000 more … Continue reading “Is Defeat Now an Option?”

Sometimes, when I recommend that people read Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (the full title is An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations), I am met with a supercilious snort, as if nothing that was written in 1776 could be relevant to today. A very common attitude seems to be, … Continue reading “Adam Smith’s Economic Case Against Imperialism”

JERUSALEM – A reliable, pragmatic leader who is tough on Palestinian violence but willing to make calculated sacrifices for peace. A leader who does not trust the Palestinians, but understands that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank cannot continue in its current form. That is how Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will present himself to … Continue reading “Sharon Minus Likud Equals … What?”

According to Bob Woodward, we’re not to worry: "When the story comes out I’m quite confident we’re going to find out that it started kind of as gossip, as chatter. And that somebody learned that Joe Wilson’s wife had worked at the CIA and helped him get this job going to Niger to see if … Continue reading “Outing Brewster Jennings”

Re-igniting Bosnia In November 1995, after months of cajoling, threatening, scheming, plotting, bombing, and blackmailing, the American-organized peace conference in Dayton, Ohio, resulted in a peace agreement that ended the hostilities in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The agreement, commonly referred to in Bosnia as “Dayton,” was a compromise between the idea of unitary, centralized state championed by the … Continue reading “A Desert Called Peace”

I fear the vice president has had one too many heart attacks. His mind seems to have slipped its moorings and is drifting out into the sea of fantasy. Dick Cheney was the misleader in chief prior to the war in Iraq, and in a recent speech in which he chastised people for suggesting that, … Continue reading “Slipped His Moorings”

How do you convince military planners to prepare detailed plans for a nuclear attack against a non-nuclear nation, without having them think you are a madman? Use the dachshund principle, as illustrated by this old story: A small boy asked his father how wireless telegraphy works. “First let me explain how telegraphy works with wires,” … Continue reading “Nuking Iran Without the Dachshund”

I‘m thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving that it’s going to take me an entire column just to adequately describe them. Indeed, I’m already so loaded down with gifts that I don’t need Christmas. My cup runneth over! For an old libertarian “isolationist” like me this holiday season is a bountiful time, one that … Continue reading “A Feast of Scandal”