Daily Articles

A Historian Looks at Tax Havens

by Charles Adams May 1, 2003

The recent attack on tax havens by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has depicted about 20–30 countries, called tax havens, as destructive of the high tax systems of the world, especially Europe. The OECD argues that its members should gang up on these nations and shut down their financial centers unless ...

Book Review: Bad Neighbor Policy

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2003

Bad Neighbor Policy: Washington’s Futile War on Drugs in Latin America by Ten Galen Carpenter (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003); 282 pages; $24.95. The U.S. government’s war on drugs has been going on since 1914, when new federal regulations were imposed making many narcotics illegal. Through most of the 19th century, opium and cocaine were obtainable legally from pharmacies with few ...

Building Democracy in Iraq

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2003

So the Bush administration is going to bring democracy to Iraq. Leaving aside the dubious connection between democracy and freedom (it wasnt Operation Iraqi Democracy), theres a rather large potential problem in realizing that ambition: what if the Iraqis want to do something contrary to the administrations wishes? Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has already declared that the U.S. government ...

Boycott the Boycotters

by Sheldon Richman April 30, 2003

I’m not much for consumer boycotts, but if I were to boycott anyone, it would be those who are calling on Americans to boycott the French. Chief among them is the Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly. Since I already don’t watch his program, I guess I can’t boycott him. ...

What’s Wrong with Looting? It’s the American Way!

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 30, 2003

Responding to the massive looting committed by Iraqis as part of their newly found “freedom,” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld observed, “Stuff happens. It’s untidy. And freedom’s untidy. And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.” The reason for his indifference is simple: ...

U.S. Torture and Mistreatment of POWs and Criminal Suspects

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 28, 2003

Iraqi POW Death Under Scrutiny" CBS News. Rules of War Apply to Us Too, by Robyn E. Blumner St. Petersburg Times. Guantanamo example may hurt POWs, by Ivan Roman Orlando Sentinel. Hypocrisy In U.S. Demands That Call For Respect Of Geneva Conventions Dar Al-Hayat.

A Stupid War

by Scott McPherson April 25, 2003

President Bush and his allies claimed emphatically during the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq that Saddam Hussein was an evil madman in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), requiring an immediate preemptive invasion to topple his dictatorial regime and avert a nuclear, biological, or chemical ...

Why Not Send Moussaoui to Havana and Be Done With It?

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 25, 2003

Fidel Castro recently did us the favor of showing how a communist regime wages a “war on terrorism.” Three accused hijackers were captured on the high seas attempting to escape communist tyranny and come to the United States. They were taken into custody, given a trial, and convicted; their appeals were denied, and they were ...

Social Fantasy and Libertarian Reality

by Scott McPherson April 25, 2003

The idea you can bring unskilled people into the country and not impose huge costs on taxpayers is a fallacy. Its a kind of libertarian fantasy. So said Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), on the occasion of his organizations releasing a report on the rise in welfare use by immigrants. According to ...

If This Is Freedom, What Exactly Is Dictatorship?

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 21, 2003

Let me see if I have this right. In the United States of America: 1. The president now has the unrestricted power to declare war against a country that has not attacked the United States, wreaking death and destruction on both sides of the conflict. 2. The president now has ...

We Want to Free You . . . but Just Don’t Come Here

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 18, 2003

Amidst all the U.S. government outrage over Fidel Castro’s tyrannical treatment of Cuban citizens, U.S. officials unfortunately remain steadfastly committed to working with Castro to forcibly repatriate Cuban refugees back into Castro’s communist tyranny. For that matter, how many U.S. officials who are now claiming to have had a ...

Drunk with Power

by Scott McPherson April 18, 2003

Following the inevitable victory of allied military power over Iraq’s decrepit army, White House officials were hesitant to express too much jubilation, lest their reaction be thought to lack seemly restraint. As buildings burned and children died, apparently they saw wisdom in a muted celebration. “Administration officials ...