Showing posts with label war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war. Show all posts

Walter E Williams: The Liberal And Progressive Vision

Here's my question to you:     If an evil person is guaranteed that he can inflict physical pain upon others and guaranteed to never suffer pain himself, what happens to his willingness to inflict pain? You say, "What do you mean, Williams?" OK, I will make my question more concrete. Suppose a young punk knows that he can knock out an innocent person  ... MORE

Steve Chapman: Putin In Syria - So What?

Vladimir Putin is having a field day in the Middle East.     He has sent Russian planes to bomb rebels in Syria. He has reached an intelligence-sharing agreement with Syria, Iran and Iraq. At the U.N. Monday, he reaffirmed his commitment to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He seems determined to fill the regional vacuum     ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Unnecessary Loss Of Life

Politically correct rules of engagement.   War is nasty, brutal and costly. In our latest wars, many of the casualties suffered by American troops are a direct result of their having to obey rules of engagement created by politicians who have never set foot on — or even seen — a battlefield. Today's battlefield commanders must be alert to the  ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Rand Paul And 10 Heedless Hawks

A desperately needed alternative to mindless militarism. At a Q&A session in Dallas a year ago, Rand Paul expressed skepticism about whether the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) posed "a threat to our national security."   Hours later at another event in Dallas, the Kentucky senator said that if he were president he "would lay out the      ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - The Military Market

America Has Way Too Many Overseas Military Bases

There are 800 bases in foreign countries.  With the U.S. military having withdrawn many of its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, most Americans would be forgiven for being unaware that hundreds of U.S. bases and hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops still encircle the globe. Although few know it, the United States garrisons the planet     ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Who Lost Iraq?

It is like a community organizer tried to be general. After the pro-Western government of China was forced to flee to the island of Taiwan in 1949, when the Communists took over mainland China, bitter recriminations in Washington led to the question: "Who lost China?" China was, of course, never ours to lose, though it might be legitimate  ... MORE

Steve Chapman: Is the Terrorism Panic Finally Passing?

A return to sanity.    One lesson of American history is that in times of war or crisis, American presidents, lawmakers and citizens often lose their minds. Another lesson is that they eventually regain their senses. When it comes to national security in the age of terrorism, it looks as though the national fever has broken. When Congress passed the Patriot Act in October 2001, it gave the federal government greater  ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: The Tyranny Of One Man's Opinion

Having your own kill list.         Thomas Cromwell was the principal behind-the-scenes fixer for much of the reign of King Henry VIII. He engineered the interrogations, convictions and executions of many whom Henry needed out of the way, including his two predecessors as fixer and even the king's second wife, Queen Anne. When Cromwell's son,  ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Glib, 'Happy Talk'

Presidential ignorance is not bliss.    When Alfred E. Neuman said "What me worry?" on the cover of Mad magazine, it was funny. But this message was not nearly as funny coming from President Barack Obama and his National Security Advisor, Susan Rice. In a musical comedy, it would be hilarious to have the president send out his "happy talk" message  ... MORE

Sheldon Richman: America’s James Bond Complex

A license to kill?      Today, American politicians of both major parties — conservatives, “moderates,” and so-called liberals alike — insist that the United States is an “exceptional,” even “indispensable” nation. In practice, this means that for the United States alone the rules are different. Particularly in international affairs, it — the        ... MORE

Words Matter In ‘ISIS’ War, So Use ‘Daesh’

by Zeba Khan. The militants who are killing civilians, raping and forcing captured women into sexual slavery, and beheading foreigners in Iraq and Syria are known by several names: the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS; the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL; and, more recently, the Islamic State, or IS. French officials recently declared that   ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: 2014 - A Year Of Anniversaries

2014 has been a year of anniversaries.        It was the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War — a war which many at the time saw as madness, and predicted that it would be the harbinger of a Second World War a generation later. 2014 was also the 70th anniversary of the fateful landing at Normandy that marked the beginning of  ... MORE

Even Small Towns Are Loading Up On Grenade Launchers

Cities are gearing up for war.   Custer is a nice little town in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Not quite the tourist center of the area—that’s really more up toward Keystone and Mount Rushmore—it still get its share of summer visitors’ traffic. Enough, anyway, to support just over 2,000 people, out of a county population somewhere around   ... MORE