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 ...
The Good and Bad News about the Bush Wars by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2007 There’s good and bad news about the two American-initiated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The good news is the American people are largely disengaged from them. The bad news is the American people are largely disengaged from them. How can the same piece of news be both good and bad? Let’s see. New York Times foreign-affairs columnist Thomas Friedman laments that most Americans ...
How Bogus Fears Bought Bush Four More Years by James Bovard July 1, 2007 Is a president entitled to frighten voters into submission to perpetuate his power over them? While many people are catching on to Bush’s deceits on Iraq, most Americans have forgotten the scams of his reelection campaign. George W. Bush was reelected in large part because he boosted the number of Americans frightened of terrorism during 2004. In October 2001, 73 ...
An Imperial Presidency, Part 2 by Gregory Bresiger July 1, 2007 Part 1 | Part 2 Republicans and Democrats have, at times, criticized the imperial presidency. Both are, to a certain extent, correct. Both are also hypocritical. It isn’t only politics that has driven these royal presidents. It is a lust for American power in the world — the desire to be “great” or to lead a crusade for democracy ...
The Constitution and Foreign Policy by Bart Frazier July 1, 2007 Protecting the country from invasion and securing individual rights are two of the vital functions of the federal government. At the same time the government is the greatest threat to our freedom. This was the subject of FFF’s June conference, “Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties.” An underlying theme, touched on by every ...
The Diagnosis of a Dying Republic, Part 2 by Anthony Gregory July 1, 2007 Part 1 | Part 2 Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006), 368 pages; $26. The full extent of the American Empire is shown in great clarity throughout Nemesis. In terms of the imperial, hyperpowerful executive branch, perhaps nothing better exemplifies the problem than the CIA, or “the ...
Civil Liberties in Wartime (Video) by Andrew Napolitano June 28, 2007 Judge Andrew P. Napolitano joined FOX News Channel in May 1998, and currently serves as a senior judicial analyst. He appears daily on The Big Story with John Gibson, co-hosts FOX and Friends once a week and is a regular on The O’Reilly Factor. Napolitano is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court Judge in the history ...
Why They Hate Us by Sheldon Richman June 27, 2007 What’s more obnoxious than a person who constantly whines about the injustices committed against him while ignoring his own injustices against others? A country that does the same thing. We often hear American politicians and commentators reciting a list of “terrorist” acts committed against the “United States.” It typically includes the 1982 ...
Bush’s Tyranny Thwarted — For Now by Sheldon Richman June 22, 2007 The news media seemed too preoccupied with Paris Hilton’s detention to notice, but a U.S. appeals court last week struck a major blow for liberty. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Bush administration may not declare a U.S. resident, whether a citizen or not, an “enemy combatant,” ...
A Report on FFF’s Conference “Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties by Jacob G. Hornberger June 15, 2007 We are still flying high here at FFF in the aftermath of our June 14 conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. I know Im a bit biased but I have never attended a more exciting conference where so many fantastic speeches were delivered. And I have never seen a higher level of energy within both speakers ...
Dare We Call It Tyranny? by Sheldon Richman June 15, 2007 The American peoples response to President Bushs war on terror should be terror. The administration, sometimes with Congresss complicity: is preparing for a 50-year stay in Iraq, complete with 14 military bases and an embassy larger than the Vatican. (Can there be a better recruiting program for al Qaeda?) has abolished habeas corpus, the principle that for centuries has protected people ...
Must History Always Repeat Itself? by Gary D. Barnett June 6, 2007 Some comparisons are just too tough to stomach, but the time has come to stomach one of them just the same. The United States has become the opposite of what was intended by our Founding Fathers. It is now not free, but rather sunk in dictatorial morass. What has become of us Americans? Why are we so weak as ...