War on Terrorism

America’s Pro-Terrorism Foreign-Aid Program

by James Bovard May 3, 2002

President Bush recently announced that he plans to boost American foreign aid by 50 percent — to more than $15 billion a year. While Bush’s proclamation was widely praised as a sign of American generosity, little attention is being paid to the hypocrisy behind his policies. Unfortunately, American foreign aid could result in new chains ...

A Republic or an Empire

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2002

The “Week in Review” section of the March 31 issue of the New York Times published an article containing a startling observation—that “today, America is no mere superpower or hegemon but a full-blown empire in the Roman and British sense.” The article, “All Roads Lead to D.C.,” by Emily Eakin, which included a picture of ...

U.S. Justice in the War on Terrorism

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2002

Suspected pipe-bomb terrorist Luke J. Helder should be counting his lucky stars that he was captured by the American police before the U.S. military could intervene. Just ask Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who was recently the target of a missile fired by CIA forces in Afghanistan. Even though Hekmatyar was not part of the Taliban or al-Qaeda, he has nevertheless ...

A Devotion to Democracy?

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 20, 2002

What’s with the love fest between U.S. officials and army generals? We have, of course, (retired) Army General Colin Powell serving as U.S. secretary of state. And we have (or will have) military tribunals manned by army officials, rather than jury trials by civilians, for foreigners accused of terrorism. There is Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani army ...

Military Tribunal Rules Violate the Rule of Law

by Sheldon Richman April 15, 2002

The government giveth and the government taketh away. Sometimes it does so simultaneously. When the Bush administration announced it would hold military tribunals for captured Taliban and al-Qaeda members, concern about the un-America nature of the proceedings were so loud the Pentagon was forced to go back to the drawing board to fine-tune the plan. When ...

The Bush Administration’s “Drugs = Terrorism” Fraud

by James Bovard April 1, 2002

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy spent more than $3 million for two TV ads during Sunday’s Super Bowl. One ad asked viewers: “Where do terrorists get their money?” The answer: “If you buy drugs, some of it might come from you.” Drug users are portrayed as terrorist financiers — practically ...

The Wars on Drugs and Terrorism Meet in Afghanistan

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2002

The U.S. government’s wars on drugs and terrorism are now coming together in Afghanistan, a nation famous for the production of opium. Prior to the Taliban regime, Afghanistan had been the world’s largest producer of poppies. But under the Taliban regime, the Afghan government waged a war on drugs as fiercely as the U.S. ...

Declaring and Waging War: The U.S. Constitution

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2002

Excuse me for asking an indelicate question in the midst of war, but where does President Bush derive the power to send the United States into war against another nation? The question becomes increasingly important given that the president has indicated that once the Afghan War has been brought to a conclusion, he intends to ...

Bush’s Opium Boom

by James Bovard April 1, 2002

Last year saw what is probably the single biggest one-year increase in opium production in world history. Since the Bush administration toppled the Taliban regime, opium production in Afghanistan has increased from 185 tons in 2001 to 3,700 tons in 2002 — an increase of twentyfold. Afghanistan has historically produced more than two-thirds of the world opium supply and ...

Thank Goodness for the Bill of Rights!

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 2, 2002

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s recent admission that a U.S. raid in Afghanistan mistakenly killed 16 innocent people suggests how grateful Americans should be that their ancestors insisted on the inclusion of a Bill of Rights as a condition of adopting the U.S. Constitution. While the U.S. raiders were convinced that the victims of the ...

Are We Safer?

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2002

Wasn’t the bombing of Afghanistan supposed to make Americans safer and more secure? A just-released Gallup Poll might raise some doubts as to whether that goal is being achieved. Gallup conducted face-to-face interviews with 10,000 people from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, and Jordan. Fifty-three percent of those interviewed expressed an ...

What Makes a Nation Evil?

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 10, 2002

With President Bush's characterization of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as an “axis of evil,” an obvious question arises: What makes a nation evil? Is it the evil nature of the ruler in a nation? Or is it the evil nature of the government itself? If it's the government, does that mean that everyone who ...