Foreign Policy & War

Bring ’Em Home

by Scott McPherson February 2, 2003

In response to rising complaints about the presence of U.S. troops, the Bush administration is making plans to reduce the number of American forces in both South Korea and Germany. At present, there are 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and 71,000 in Germany. The timing of this move is not coincidental. Since the election of ...

The Soviet Union Won World War II

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 2, 2003

While Nazi Germany lost World War II, does that necessarily mean that we won it? Only if we ignore the specific objective of Great Britain and France when they initially declared war on Germany in 1939 and only if the pronoun “we” encompasses the Soviet Union, who was the true victor in the European arena ...

Ending the Anachronistic Korean Commitment, Part 1

by Doug Bandow February 1, 2003

Part 1 | Part 2 The United States has defended South Korea (the Republic of Korea, or ROK) for 50 years. But newly elected ROK President Roh Moo-hyun suggests that his nation might “mediate” in any war between America and North Korea (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK). Talk about one-way alliances! The presence of 37,000 troops in ...

Peace Prize to a Man of War

by Sheldon Richman January 27, 2003

The day before former President Jimmy Carter formally received the Nobel Peace Prize, he told a reporter he hoped the honor would spotlight the more favorable things that happened during his term in office, such as the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978. Camp David is widely known. Not so well known is another foreign-policy achievement of ...

Bush to Chavez: Just Ignore Your Constitution

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 22, 2003

President Bush’s recent advice to embattled Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez reflects Bush’s cavalier attitude toward constitutional restraints. In the midst of all the political turmoil in Venezuela, Bush, who apparently despises Chavez, aligned himself with his political opponents and called for early presidential elections, with the aim ...

My Pre-Invasion Predictions

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 13, 2003

More than a year prior to the September 11 attacks, we here at The Future of Freedom Foundation predicted that the U.S. government's interventionist foreign policy would ultimately produce terrorism on American soil: “Terrorism — or War,” by Jacob G. Hornberger “Breeding Terrorism,” by Sheldon Richman Here are my five ...

Is a Bankrupt Foreign Policy Worth It?

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 8, 2003

Is terrorism rooted in hatred for our “freedom and values,” as the Bush administration has steadfastly maintained ever since the September 11 attacks, or is it instead rooted in a bankrupt foreign policy whose adverse effects are finally rising to the surface? Before he was recently executed for killing two CIA agents, Mir Aimal Kasi, a ...

Leave Iraq Alone

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 6, 2003

Despite the fact that he is amassing an impressive display of military armament in the areas near Iraq, President Bush says that he still hasn’t made up his mind on whether to order an invasion of Iraq. That would imply that despite the array of intelligence and information that ...

Why Submit to Blackmail When Bribery Is Available?

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 2, 2003

President Bush says he’s not going to submit to blackmail by North Korea, but apparently he has nothing against bribery because he’s now offering North Korea fuel, food, and an easing of U.S. sanctions in return for North Korea’s promise not to produce nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, the president and other members of the federal government, including ...

Kissinger is the Wrong Man

by Sheldon Richman January 2, 2003

Henry Kissinger personifies all that is wrong with government in America, particularly the making of foreign policy. So it is no surprise that President Bush wanted him to chair the commission looking into the monumental U.S. intelligence failures that gave us 9/11. We can be grateful that Kissinger has resigned even before he got started. Throughout ...

Foreign Dissent on Bush’s Imperial Ambitions

by James Bovard January 1, 2003

The Bush administration was outraged this past summer when German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder starkly declared that he would not support Bush’s war with Iraq. The resulting transatlantic brouhaha provides insights into political developments and delusions in both the United States and Germany. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld huffed that the German campaign had been “unhelpful” ...

Another Frankenstein’s Monster

by Sheldon Richman December 27, 2002

When a nemesis such as Osama bin Laden speaks, one would expect his words to be of great interest. But this is apparently not the case. The latest audiotape of a voice purporting to be bin Laden’s prompted discussion principally of three issues: (1) Was it really him? (2) Why wasn’t it a videotape? (3) Where is he? There was ...