From the category archives:

America and Iraq

The Vice President of “So”

March 24, 2008

Only Dick Cheney could make Spiro Agnew look better. “So?” Never have fewer letters signified the arrogance of power and disconnection from reality more vividly than this reply from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. He was responding last week to the statement from ABC News’s Martha Raddatz that two-thirds of Americans believe the war in [...]

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Outrage of the Week: Maher Arar and the Folly of Colossus

October 19, 2007

Maher Arar, the Canadian citizen who was detained at a New York airport in 2002 by U.S. officials and sent off to Syria where he was tortured, testified before the United States Congress yesterday —by video conference. He could not appear in person because he is barred from entering the U.S. on the grounds of [...]

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The Malleable Dr. Greenspan

September 15, 2007

Alan Greenspan, whose selective vision we have written about before, appears to have been “shocked, shocked” that tax cuts were contributing to the mounting deficit in the Bush administration. That is, if you believe his just released autobiography The Age of Turbulence. This is a man who, as head of the Fed until just 18 [...]

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Meet the Leaders —Or At Least One

March 18, 2007

There was an interesting contrast between two prominent American figures who support the war in Iraq over the weekend. On Meet the Press, former House Republican Majority leader Tom DeLay took the position that during times of war, like now, there should be no opposition. And demonstrations of the kind that occurred during the last [...]

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Outrage of the Week: The Legislators Who Let Building 18 Happen and Neglected America’s Wounded Heroes

March 2, 2007

The shameful condition of U.S. medical facilities for treating wounded veterans was highlighted this week in what will surely be Pulitzer Prize winning stories for the Washington Post. It symbolizes a culture of betrayal on the part of official Washington that has rightly seen Americans everywhere register their indignation. But the outrage goes beyond the [...]

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Three Kings Worth Saluting

January 15, 2007

The celebration of Martin Luther King day serves also as a reminder that America has produced other kings who have changed the world for the better. Civil rights and music are two contributions that have given the United States a unique place in the hearts of many, regardless of native language or culture. This is [...]

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America and Iraq: The Incalculable Costs of Leadership Folly

December 6, 2006

Saddham Hussein’s regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime’s good faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless gamble. –George W. Bush, September 2002 The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. –Iraq [...]

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Washington Essay: American Governance and the Iraq Debacle

November 24, 2006

King George III lost America because of hubris and a failure to be guided by reality and the discipline of sound governance. The same failures plague America’s efforts in Iraq. Washington, DC The doors and drawers of Congress are opening and closing briskly as the Democrats prepare to take power from the Republicans in January. [...]

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