War Logic by Scott McPherson March 17, 2003 The rhetorical case favoring an invasion of Iraq has gone on for so long that no one is really thinking about the reasons any more. We’ve moved on to more important things, like when the tanks will start rolling. Though it might be far too late, it couldn’t hurt to do ...
Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Saddam? by Jacob G. Hornberger March 17, 2003 I have a confession to make: I’m not afraid of Saddam Hussein. Not a bit. I have absolutely no fear that the man is going to come and get me or that he is going to spray biological or chemical weapons on me or that he will send someone to do the ...
The Misunderstood Link between Al-Qaeda and Iraq by Ahmad Faruqui March 17, 2003 A majority of the American population believe that Iraq was behind the terrorist acts of September 11, even though no credible evidence has surfaced for this alleged link between al-Qaeda and Iraq. In his speech to the American Enterprise Institute, President Bush used this link to justify invading Iraq as a necessary act of self-defense. There ...
Bomb Them! by Scott McPherson March 14, 2003 We feel like Greeks, we feel like Romans Centaurs and monkeys just cluster round us We drink elixirs that we refine From the juices of the dying We are no monsters, we’re moral people And yet we have the strength to do this This is the splendour of our achievement Call in the airstrike with a poison kiss — Shriekback, “Nemesis” “North Korean fighter jets threatened an ...
Piling it on the Second Amendment by Scott McPherson March 10, 2003 Just as this year’s historic winter storm piled up snow faster than transportation officials could clear it away, so does D.C. Million Mom March president Ladd Everett aspire to pile on the nonsense regarding the Second Amendment in a February 19 Letter to the Editor of the Washington ...
The Draft Is Un-American by Sheldon Richman March 10, 2003 Rep. Charles Rangel’s logic for reinstating military conscription is hard to follow. As near as I can make out, he wants to bring back the draft for two reasons: first, to slow the policymakers’ rush to war against Iraq by putting their sons at risk, and, failing that, to spread the ...
Socialism and Immigration by Scott McPherson March 7, 2003 In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it has become increasingly fashionable and popular to loudly proclaim the dangers, threats, costs, and consequences of immigration. If the constant ranting from editorial pages is any gauge, one would think that virtually every ill our society faces can be laid ...
“What We Say Goes” by Sheldon Richman March 7, 2003 President Bush tells us that Saddam Hussein alone will determine whether Iraq burns, but the president is increasingly unable to conceal his smugness when he says such things. The fact is that Bush decided to go to war long ago and every step he takes is calculated to bring ...
Free-Market Environmentalism by Bart Frazier March 7, 2003 One of the most important lessons that economics teaches is that incentives matter. Economics is not a field that is normally associated with the environmental movement, but the recognition of the importance of incentives has led to a schism in the movement — between those environmentalists who turn to the state ...
Why War with Iraq? Follow the Money by Richard M. Ebeling March 5, 2003 Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf recently argued that America’s coming war with Iraq would provide a “public good” for the world. The world economy runs on oil. Any disruption in oil supplies or unstable swings in oil prices threaten the economic well-being of every oil user around the globe. Regimes such ...
The Rot at the Center of the Empire (commentary) by Jacob G. Hornberger March 3, 2003 View the many reader responses to this article. Last weekend’s announcement that the U.S. government had relied on fake and false evidence in the attempt to secure approval of its upcoming invasion of Iraq was, by and large, met by a collective yawn from the American people, especially the members of Congress. It’s just one more example ...
Make Mine a Freedom Muffin by Sheldon Richman March 2, 2003 I don’t eat freedom muffins anymore (I’m on a low-carbohydrate diet), and my stepdaughter has a freedom bulldog. What are freedom muffins and freedom bulldogs? You know them as English muffins and English bulldogs. But as long as we’re removing the word “French” from things, we might as well remove the word “English” too. For heaven’s ...