War on Terrorism

The War Crimes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 1995

When U.S. military forces dropped atomic bombs on Japanese civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 275,000 men, women, and children were killed. Ever since, the killings have been justified by the claim that the bombings shortened the war and, therefore, saved the lives of American servicemen. Actually, the bombings constituted war crimes for which the perpetrators should have been tried and ...

Dresden: Time to Say We’re Sorry

by Simon Jenkins September 1, 1995

As the U.S. Fifth Army inched its way up Italy in 1944, its command constantly pondered which towns should be spared bombardment. Monte Cassino was destroyed. The centers of Rome and Florence were saved. The Pieros of Sansepulcro were reprieved at the last minute (I believe by an art-loving gunner). These decisions were taken out of respect for the ...

Killing Noncombatants

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 1995

In May 11, 1940, Great Britain made a fateful decision in its approach to fighting the second world war. On that night, eighteen Whitley bombers attacked railway installations in the placid west German province of Westphalia, far from the war front. That forgotten bombing raid, which in itself was inconsequential, has been called "the first deliberate breach of the ...

The Power to Declare War — Who Speaks for the Constitution? Part 3

by Doug Bandow August 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The favorite justification for presidents unilaterally wandering off to war around the globe seems to be: everyone else does it. Proponents of executive war-making contend that ample precedents — two hundred or more troop deployments without congressional approval — exist for the president to act without a congressional declaration. Yet, ...

The Power to Declare War — Who Speaks for the Constitution? Part 2

by Doug Bandow July 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 What conceivable justification is there for ignoring the Constitution's straightforward requirement regarding the power to declare war? Advocates of expansive executive war power — oddly enough, including some conservatives who claim to believe in a jurisprudence of "original intent" — have come up with a number of reasons to give ...

American Foreign Policy — The Turning Point, 1898–1919 Part 6

by Ralph Raico July 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 The vast changes that the First World War was to bring about began to occur even while the war was still going on. In February 1917, the Tsarist Russian state collapsed, and a provisional government was established. But ...

Terrorism — Public and Private

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 1995

On April 19, 1995, the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed. Hundreds of people, including children, were killed or injured. Although federal government officials have been sporadically killed in the line of duty in the past, this was the first mass killing of federal civil servants in American history. There was tremendous shock, anger, and outrage over the Oklahoma ...

The Oklahoma Tragedy and the Mass Media

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 1995

The hundreds of pictures and thousands of words that have appeared in the popular press since the Oklahoma City bombing tell us much about America and its people. The images and descriptions of the killed and wounded have aroused the sympathy and concern of millions of Americans. Countless prayers have been offered for the dead and those they left ...

American Foreign Policy — The Turning Point, 1898–1919 Part 5

by Ralph Raico June 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 When the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany in February 1917, war did not immediately follow. President Wilson hesitated to take that final, fateful step, first asking Congress for authority to arm U.S. merchant ships. Since ...

The Power to Declare War — Who Speaks for the Constitution? Part 1

by Doug Bandow June 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 When presidents lose domestic support, they invariably look overseas for crises to solve. President Clinton is no different. After the Republicans swept Congress, he immediately flew off to the Pacific for a series of meetings with foreign leaders. Aides predict that he will continue to pay greater attention to foreign policy, where ...

American Foreign Policy — The Turning Point, 1898–1919 Part 4

by Ralph Raico May 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Once war broke out in 1914, each of the European powers felt that its very existence was at stake, and rules of international law were rapidly abandoned. The Germans violated Belgian neutrality because their war plan called for the ...

American Foreign Policy — The Turning Point, 1898 –1919 Part 3

by Ralph Raico April 1, 1995

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 By 1899, the United States was involved in its first war in Asia. Three others were to follow in the course of the next century: against Japan, North Korea and China, and, finally, Viet Nam. But our first ...