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

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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The U.S. Role in Iraqs Sectarian Violence

by , | Mar 6, 2006

The sectarian violence which has swept across Iraq following last month’s terrorist bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samara is yet another example of the tragic consequences of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Until the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation, Iraq had maintained a longstanding history of secularism and a strong national identity among its Arab population despite its sectarian differences.

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Too Little Too Late: The Supreme Court as a Check on Executive Power

by , | Feb 17, 2006

Under the Bush administration, foreign policy issues such as warrantless wiretaps, the rights of enemy combatants, and interrogation methods have become the latest topics in the longstanding debate over the limits of executive branch power and the role of the judiciary in enforcing those limits. The issue recently took center stage when Senate Democrats expressed concern at the confirmation hearings of Samuel Alito, President Bush’s most recent pick for the Supreme Court, that Alito would support greater judicial deference to executive authority.

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Tao, Bush, and the Nature of Things

by , | Feb 16, 2006

It is customary early in the New Year to recommend good books to read. And the Tao Te Ching should be at the top of President Bush’s list. Careening from crisis to crisis with approval ratings drooping, the president should consider the opening lines of chapter 80. “If a country is governed wisely, its inhabitants will be content.”

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