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

Polls Show Slide in Bush Administration’s Credibility

by | Jul 3, 2003

Two recent polls show signs of a sharp decline in popular support for the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq. One recent survey indicates that solid majorities of people in the U.S. now doubt the truthfulness of Bush administration claims regarding evidence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and Saddam Hussein’s links to al Qaeda, with majorities believing either that the Bush administration claims were “stretching the truth” or deliberate falsehoods. The poll, carried out by the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), also shows a stark decline in public confidence in President George W. Bush and his administration’s credibility.

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Fearful Symmetry: Washington and Pyongyang

by , | Jul 1, 2003

The streets of the capital are broad and the buildings monumental. Inside the grand state offices, a power struggle rages among the political elite, and the side that seems to have the upper hand is insulated, single-minded, and shamelessly belligerent. This clique supports a military-first policy that doesn’t shrink from the first use of nuclear weapons, a stance that strikes fear into allies and adversaries alike. Nor are these fears soothed by the
actions or rhetoric of the leader, a former playboy who owes his position to an irregular political process and the legacy of a more statesmanlike father.

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The Other Looting

by | Jul 1, 2003

Chaos and lawlessness have gripped large parts of Iraq following the U.S.-British invasion. The country’s civilian population finds itself bereft of jobs and even basic services. Museums, hospitals, universities, power stations, water plants, and telecomm facilities have been stripped bare by looters, leaving the country in dire straits. Several weeks after the end of major fighting, ordinary Iraqis have seen little in the way of benefits from whatever reconstruction is going on. Indeed, the focus of the occupation regime is more on emergency repairs than on a major rehabilitation of Iraq’s dilapidated and war-destroyed public infrastructure.1

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Alienation and Militancy in the Niger Delta: A Response to CSIS on Petroleum, Politics, and Democracy in Nigeria

by , , , | Jul 1, 2003

In the wake of the September 11th attack and the Iraq war, Nigeria’s geopolitical significance to the U.S. has come into sharper relief. In March and April 2003, militancy across the Niger Delta radically disrupted oil production in this major oil supplier nation. News of these actions, following conflict-ridden national elections, has reinforced the notion that Nigeria and the new West African “gulf states” in general are matters of U.S. national security.

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White House Hobbles International Criminal Court, World Security

by , | Jul 1, 2003

The current U.S. administration has a near-religious aversion to the new, permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). The court, now with 90 member countries, was established to ensure that the rule of law prevails in places where the only alternative is impunity for the most gut-wrenchingly vicious crimes against humanity. Its opponents in the administration, however, claim that the court will become a forum for politicized prosecutions. In fact, they are so sure that the court is out to persecute U.S. citizens that they are willing to undermine some of the most basic foundations of international security to protect against this perceived, but nonexistent, threat.

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Iraq: Integrity and Ethics in Formulating and Interpreting Intelligence

by | Jun 17, 2003

On June 6, Randy Cohen, the New York Times’ resident ethicist, appeared on CNN’s NewsNight where he and host Aaron Brown began talking about ethics and integrity in the conduct of public business and in the statements and actions of public figures. Near the end of the time allotted for the discussion, Brown mentioned weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. Cohen replied in part: “I think this is the big ethical story of the week: Many people are asserting … that the president lied about [WMD] in order to get our country into a war.”

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Is U.S. Foreign Policy a Threat to U.S. Security?

by | Jun 17, 2003

The world is turning against the United States. Most people across the planet dislike U.S. President George W. Bush. Even in his own country he is not as popular, trusted, and admired as other leaders, such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Experts are in agreement that the primary reason why people now hate the United States is the Bush administration’s foreign policy. More and more people are less keen on cooperating with the U.S. government in that policy or in the war on terror. Its exclusively self-regarding outlook, its arrogant unilateralism, its unwise and untrustworthy rhetoric, and its belligerent posture is alienating and angering people in the East and the West. Growing opposition will not only undermine the war on terror, but its extreme manifestations in the Muslim World are attracting new and numerous recruits to the ranks of al Qaeda and associates.

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Bringing the War Home: Right Wing Think Tank Turns Wrath on NGOs

by | Jun 13, 2003

Having led the charge to war in Iraq, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an influential think tank close to the Bush administration, has added a new target: international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). AEI and its partner in the project, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, are setting their sights on those groups with a “progressive” or “liberal” agenda that favors “global governance” and other notions that are also promoted by the United Nations and other multilateral agencies.

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