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Bush, Rumsfeld, and Orwell

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It has long been clear that little of what government leaders say and do makes no sense unless you understand that they think we are idiots, uninformed, or both. Could there be better evidence than recent remarks by President Bush and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld? Let’s start with the much-admired Secretary Rumsfeld. He was asked the other day whether a U.S. attack on Iraq would provoke terrorism against Americans. With his strong, set jaw, steely eyes, and slight, arrogant smile, he said something very close to this: We were attacked on 9/11 when we weren’t at war with Iraq. One problem: Since 1991 there has not been a time when the U.S. government was not at war with Iraq. John Laughland of the London Spectator reports from Baghdad ...

An American Empire! If You Want It instead of Freedom, Part 1

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Part 1 | Part 2 Fifty years ago, the classical liberal author and journalist Garet Garrett published a collection of essays called The People's Pottage (1953). In the midst of the Korean War, he tried to persuade the American people that the United States was on a new course that conflicted with the original conception of the nation. Its constitutional safeguards for the preservation of freedom were being threatened and undermined by the role the government was assuming around the world. The specific danger was reflected in the title of one of the essays in the volume, "The Rise of Empire." Garrett summarized what he considered the requisite signs of the emerging American Empire. First, the executive power of the government becomes increasingly dominant. The traditional institutional restraints and balances on the three branches of government are weakened, with more and more discretionary power and authority shifting ...

Lying about War

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Can we believe the government? For some people, there is no pretense of objectivity about the question. Republicans have no problem doubting the word of a Democrat president, and Democrats are skeptical about Republican chief executives. But that’s politics. For others, it’s a blasphemous question no matter who’s in office. Some would divide the question. They can accept that the government would lie over a domestic issue, such as fudging budget numbers or promising not to raise taxes when a tax increase is on the hidden agenda. But some of those same people would balk at the suggestion that government officials would utter untruths in matters of war and peace. To even suggest it is somehow beyond the pale. It defines the questioner outside of polite society. Be gone, ye doubter! One reason for this reaction is the almost mystical regard in which so many folks hold “the Nation.” When ...