Middle East

Why the Peaceful Majority of Muslims Are Not Irrelevant

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2008

A few years ago, FrontPageMag.com columnist Paul Marek wrote an article titled “Why the Peaceful Majority Is Irrelevant.” His thesis was that even if the majority of Muslims abhor violence, it doesn’t matter because “the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.... The hard quantifiable fact is, that the ‘peaceful majority’ is the ‘silent majority’ and ...

Iran’s Phantom Nukes

by Sheldon Richman December 10, 2007

We can all sleep easier today. Any plans President George W. Bush may have had to attack Iran were dealt a major blow by the news that U.S. intelligence now believes Iran stopped trying to develop nuclear weapons in 2003. That, by the way, was two years before Mahmoud “The New ...

Ahmadinejad

by Sheldon Richman October 3, 2007

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is no one to admire, but when was the last time President Bush stood before a critical college audience and fielded tough questions? Bush appears only before handpicked friendly crowds. Even news conferences are barely adversarial because the media has the curious rule that ...

The Wrong Conversation About Iraq

by Frank Nicosia October 1, 2007

Democrats and Republicans, pundits, retired military, the media, and other critics of the Iraq war are having the wrong conversation about how to leave Iraq. They and others, including most of the Democratic candidates for president, focus on the Bush administration’s lack of “success.” We should withdraw or “redeploy” our ...

The War on Afghanistan Was Wrong, Too

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2007

While most Americans have turned against the Iraq War, many of them still think that the war on Afghanistan was morally and legally justified. Their rationale is that the United States was simply defending itself by attacking Afghanistan and retaliating against those who had conspired to commit the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Of course, the last thing on people’s mind ...

U.S. Hypocrisy on Iran

by Sheldon Richman February 2, 2007

“It has been clear for some time that Iran has been meddling in Iraq,” says White House spokesman Gordon D. Johndroe. “We don’t believe that behavior, such as supporting Shia extremists in Iraq, should go unchallenged,” John Negroponte, the U.S. intelligence boss, added. Meanwhile, President Bush has authorized American ...

A Legacy of Anti-Terrorist Failure in Lebanon

by James Bovard October 1, 2006

The Bush administration is fond of favoring tough measures against terrorists. With the Bush team cheer-leading all the way, Israel reinvaded Lebanon in July in response to Hezbollah’s seizure of two Israeli soldiers. Israel and Hezbollah had been exchanging bombs and missiles for months — actually, years — prior ...

Hidden Government

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2006

Americans pride themselves on “self-government.” But when significant policies are undertaken without their notice, much less consent, self-government is a cruel hoax. Reporting by Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker and other sources indicate that the Bush administration actively helped the Israeli government plan an attack on Lebanon. When it ...

The Birth Pangs of Rosemary’s Baby

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 2, 2006

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice employed an interesting metaphor to describe the death and mayhem in Lebanon. She said that the world was witnessing the “birth pangs of a new Middle East.” Why is that an interesting metaphor? Well, she’s obviously referring to a pregnant woman’s labor pains and the ...

The Moral Rot of Middle East Intervention

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 28, 2006

Of one thing we can be certain after decades of the U.S. government’s interventionist foreign policy in the Middle East: it has not brought peace to that part of the world. Another thing we can be certain of: the federal government’s interventionist foreign policy is at the center of the ...

Not World War III

by Sheldon Richman July 26, 2006

When a war breaks out somewhere, two sound principles for civilized people are: (1) demand an immediate ceasefire and, failing that, (2) keep the war contained — do not broaden it, do not join in. We can gauge the civility of the Bush administration’s neoconservative boosters by the fact that they ...

Bush Countenances Middle East Violence

by Sheldon Richman July 21, 2006

The administration of George W. Bush has done some contemptible things in its five and a half years, but what it’s doing now in the Middle East could be a new low. Innocent civilians are dying in Lebanon and Israel, but the administration’s position is that the time is ...