Scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the U.S. a more responsible global partner.
War & Peace

Congressional Legislation Aimed at Isolating Hamas is Likely to Backfire

by , | Jun 14, 2006

Since the Palestinian Legislative Council elections earlier this year, in which the Islamist group Hamas captured a majority of seats, the Bush administration has suspended U.S. economic assistance to the Palestine Authority (PA) and has led an international effort to impose sanctions against the Palestinians. This has meant enormous hardship for ordinary Palestinians, with reports that hospitals in Gaza have difficulty providing immunizations for children or dialysis machines for kidney patients. The World Health Organization warns of a “rapid decline of the public health system … toward a possible collapse.”

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Decision on Libya Marks Shift in Bush Foreign Policy

by , | May 25, 2006

The recent announcement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the United States will open an embassy in Libya was welcome news all around. Long overdue, the restoration of full diplomatic relations is a win-win situation for both Libya and the United States, as well as for other states in and out of the Middle East. The U.S. decision also marks a significant shift in the foreign policy of the Bush administration, a change most observers have overlooked.

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A Unified Security Budget for the United States, 2007

A Unified Security Budget for the United States, 2007

by , | May 2, 2006

As it is portrayed in the Bush administration’s new National Security Strategy doctrine, our military is a co-equal partner with our diplomatic corps, our development agency and our homeland security department. The text speaks of pursuing national security by championing aspirations for human dignity, strengthening alliances, defusing regional conflicts, and expanding development. In the section on “key national security institutions,” the Department of Defense (DOD) is third on the list.

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The United States and Lebanon: A Meddlesome History

by , | Apr 26, 2006

While the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon one year ago was certainly a positive development, claims by the Bush administration and its supporters that the United States deserves credit are badly misplaced. On the first anniversary of the ousting of Syrian forces by a popular nonviolent movement, it is important to recognize that American calls in recent years for greater Lebanese freedom and sovereignty from Syrian domination have been viewed by most Lebanese as crass opportunism. Indeed, few Americans are aware that for decades the United States pursued policies which seriously undermined Lebanon’s freedom and sovereignty.

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Iraq Three Years after Liberation

by , | Apr 21, 2006

Three years after U.S. forces captured Baghdad, Iraqis are suffering from unprecedented violence and misery. Although Saddam Hussein was indeed one of the world’s most brutal tyrants, the no-fly zones and arms embargo in place for more than a dozen years prior to his ouster had severely weakened his capacity to do violence against his own people. Today, the level of violent deaths is not only far higher than during his final years in power, but the sheer randomness of the violence has left millions of Iraqis in a state of perpetual terror. At least 30,000 Iraqi civilians have died, most of them at the hands of U.S. forces but increasingly from terrorist groups and Iraqi government death squads. Thousands more soldiers and police have also been killed. Violent crime, including kidnapping, rape, and armed robbery, is at record levels. There is a proliferation of small arms, and private militias are growing rapidly. A Lebanon-type multifaceted civil war, only on a much wider and deadlier scale, grows more likely with time.

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Not terrorism–China drives up U.S. military spending

by | Apr 11, 2006

Ostensibly, the growing threat of international terrorism is responsible for the Bush administration’s proposed 2007 military budget, of $439 billion: a 7-percent increase from last year’s record tally. Higher spending, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has indicated, would ensure U.S. success “in the long war against terrorist extremism.”

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Democrats Talk Tough

by | Apr 11, 2006

The conventional wisdom holds that a majority of Americans believe that Republicans do a better job of protecting America than Democrats do. This assumption has changed significantly as the Bush administration’s war in Iraq descends further into chaos and violence, but most high-ranking Democratic officials continue to believe that a "muscular" approach to national security is their best bet for returning to power. But trying to beat the Republicans at their own game–fear-mongering in the service of ever higher military budgets–is a losing proposition.
A better approach for Democrats would be to set a date certain for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, and then present a plan for investing the tens or hundreds of billions thus saved in non-military tools of security. A new security policy should be premised on the notion that every human being is precious, and that the government should endeavor to protect America and its allies from all threats to life, including terrorism, infectious diseases, natural disasters, environmental degradation, and entrenched poverty.

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Controlling the Bomb

by , | Apr 4, 2006

The United States is trying to prevent Iran from acquiring the capacity to make nuclear weapons. This is only the most recent of its seemingly endless series of battles over the past 60 years to control which other countries have access to these weapons. In this time it has failed to understand that as a nuclear-armed superpower it is as much part of the problem as part of the solution. As the Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca explained almost 2000 years ago, “Power over life and death—don’t be proud of it. Whatever they fear from you, you’ll be threatened with.”

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The Dubai Ports World Controversy: Jingoism or Legitimate Concerns?

by , | Mar 13, 2006

Congressional Democrats, who proved themselves to be so timid in challenging the Bush administration in its invasion and occupation of Iraq, the initial passage of the Patriot Act, the bombing of Afghanistan, the detention without due process and torture of thousands of detainees worldwide, and other horrendous policies finally found the courage to challenge the Bush administration on a post-9/11 security issue and won. Unfortunately, they chose an issue of little real importance and decided to appeal to popular racist and jingoistic sentiments by raising exaggerated fears over the implications of a routine transfer of ownership of a company which operates facilities at some terminals in six U.S. ports.

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