News Abroad

The Sad Parallels Between Iraq and Reconstruction

by Bertram Wyatt-Brown

American indifference to Iraqi society and values is proving calamitous. That's because American authorities remain dismissive of Middle Eastern culture, in which the powerful and ancient code of honor determines behavior and ideals. That code fuels the enmity of our opponents throughout the Arab world. Yet Washington policy-makers seem oblivious to Arab motivations and how best to deal with resistance to American peacekeeping. We should know better -- from our ow

Why the Demand for the Return of Palestinian Refugees to Israel Is a Blueprint for Instability

by Shlomo Avineri

The atmosphere could not have been more tranquil: a former royal castle in the rolling hills of the Taunus region near Frankfurt, hosting an annual meeting, sponsored by a German foundation, of statesmen and politicians dealing with Middle Eastern problems. Europeans and Americans, Israelis and Iranians, Egyptians and Turks, Palestinians and Tunisians rubbed shoulders. This year there was a novelty: representatives from post-Saddam Iraq, among them an official from the

Anti-Americanism: Why Do Europeans Resent Us?

by David Ellwood

At the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians in April 2003 Mr. Ellwood delivered the following lecture.Anti-Americanism as a cultural and political phenomenon can be defined by its history, or rather by a study of the evolution of all the commonest forms of antagonism to the nation, people, civilization and actions in the world of the United States in all its expressions. This presentation identifies the three great roots of anti-America

The Ransacking of the Baghdad Museum Is a Disgrace

by Piotr Michalowski

It has now been more than twenty-four hours since the first news of the looting of the Baghdad Museum started coming in; the details mount, and the mourning becomes unbearable. I sit at my desk looking at a photo of a woman's head made of marble, whose empty eyes have stared back at me for my whole adult life. This amazing face had survived for more than five thousand years and I always took it for granted that it would gaze out at the world long after I was gone. Now, together with

The Two Essential Steps Needed to Turn Iraq into a Peace-Loving Country

by Jonathan Dresner

The disarmament of Iraq is our aim, we say. And surely even if there's some slippage between our public statements and true motives, reducing the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) seems like a good idea. Previous inspections for WMD in Saddam Hussein's Iraq failed because the Iraqis refused to cooperate and the inspectors were too few and too weakly supported to overcome Iraqi resistance. But even if the inspections had succeeded in the short term, a hi

Why France Gave the U.S. the Boot

by Harvey Sicherman

On Wednesday evening, March 19, 2003, George W. Bush announced the beginning of operation "Iraqi Freedom." He preceded this terse announcement two days earlier by demanding the departure of Saddam Hussein and his sons, while offering a broad justification for the war. Iraq would not be a threat to the region or the United States, said the President, if its ruler were willing to relinquish its weapons of mass destruction. Bush noted in passing that the U.N. Security Council ha

An Empire, If You Can Keep It

by Trevor Getz

Several historians have recently chimed in on the 'American Empire' debate. On HNN Paul Schroeder in particular has introduced an element of scholarly interpretation to the otherwise naive dialogue of the talk-show pundits and radical rags. America certainly is not an Empire. Yet that is not to say that it does not stand on the brink. Britain, too, in the late 1870s was anti-imperialist and anti-expansionist. Yet, through a roughly ana

Iraq Is Not Japan

by Chalmers Johnson

According to press reports, the White House is developing a plan, modeled on the postwar occupation of Japan, to install an American-led military government in Iraq. Administration officials said Iraq would be governed by a senior American military officer, who would assume the role that Gen. Douglas MacArthur played in Japan after its surrender. The plan calls for war-crimes trials of Iraqi leaders and a transition to an elected civilian government after a few years of American oc

George W.'s Wrong-headed Approach to Korea

by James B. Palais

There was a time after the end of the Korean War (1950-53) when U.S. policy toward Korea was the defense of South Korea from another invasion from North Korea. Since the late 1980s, if not sooner, the situation has changed drastically. South Korea has far surpassed the economy of North Korea, established its own arms industry and has gained access to modern tanks, aircraft, and artillery. Many think that it has the capacity to defend itself, even without the 37,000 U.S. troops statio

Why Engineers Are Worried About the Temple Mount--and Why Politicians Are, too

by Daniel Pipes

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem (holiest spot on earth for Jews and ranking up there in sanctity also for Christians and Muslims) may soon come partly crashing down. Despite appearances, the 35-acre Temple Mount plateau is not a natural formation but a man-made esplanade built centuries ago by stacking one large brick-like rock atop another.The wall on one side might cave in due to the fact that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has had administrative control over the Templ

Iraq Is the Rogue Elephant

by Daniel Pipes

Consider the paradox: Almost every government agrees that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is an appalling monster and shudders at the prospect of his acquiring nuclear weapons. Yet those same governments are also furiously signaling their disapproval of an American-led military effort to depose him. That would be "risky adventurism," declares Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder; Saddam poses no immediate threat, and Washington lacks a justification to attack him. M

Unilateralism Can be a Blessing

by Judith Apter Klinghoffer

On August 26, 2002 Vice President Dick Cheney told the National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that "the entire world must know" that the United States "will take whatever action is necessary to defend" its "freedom" and its "security." Under current circumstances, his meaning was clear. Having concluded that over a decade of multilateral action had failed to defang Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration is now pre

George Kennan Speaks Out About Iraq

by Albert Eisele

George F. Kennan, the chief architect of the containment and deterrence policies that shaped America foreign policy during the Cold War, said Sunday that Congress, and not President Bush, must decide whether the United States should take military action against Iraq.In a wide-ranging interview at a Georgetown senior citizens home where he spent the past month, the 98-year-old historian and former top U.S. diplomat repeatedly warned of the unforeseen consequences o

Between Iraq and a Hard Place: Making the World Safe for Arab Democracy

by Mark Safranski

"I felt they made a mistake by not finishing the job."--Al Gore, recently criticizing the results of the Gulf War after cautioning against invasion of Iraq.The United States is at war and so far it is winning. The next battle or " Phase II " of the War on Terrorism, as numerous major leaks to the New York Times indicate, will likely be a full-scale invasion of Iraq. Short of running campaign commercials on the topic, the Bush admini

Asking the UN for Help in Iraq Is the Best of Three Bad Options

by Henry Butterfield Ryan

Memories of the Vietnam War of the 1960s and 1970s hover over our occupation of Iraq like sullen ghosts, calling out warnings to American policy makers. President Bush obviously hears them, and he is determined that Iraq will not scar him as Vietnam did Presidents Johnson and Nixon. Above all, he doesn't want this crisis to turn him out of the White House as the Vietnam crisis turned out Johnson.But for President Bush to escape Iraq undamaged will not be easy. His first priority mus

Jewish Terrorism

by Judith Apter Klinghoffer

The article is dedicated to Rafael Berger who lost his life when a Jerusalem bus was blown up by a suicide bomber on June 17, 2002. "As long as young people feel they've got no hope but to blow themselves up we are never going to make progress." -- Cherie Blair, Wife of the British Prime Minister "The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis . . . th

Are American Jews an Obstacle to Peace?

by Ira Chernus

Israel's Six Day War, fought and won 35 years ago this week, marked a sea change in the life of the U.S. Jewish community. It was the fateful week when concerns about Israel and the Holocaust moved to the center of Jewish concerns in this country. Today, the effects of that change still sow seeds of insecurity in American Jewish life. This insecurity hampers U.S. efforts to serve as an even-handed broker in the Middle East. It is easy to forget that before 1967 Jewish life here

9-11: Insights Offered by the OAH's Journal of American History

The latest issue of the Journal of American History, which is published by the Organization of American Historians, is wholly concerned with 9-11. This edition is so extraordinary and timely, we decided to feature brief selections from various essays. The 9-11 Attack Should Be Placed in ContextJoanne Meyerowitz:As the U.S. government attempted to win the C

Le Pen: Sui Generis? Non

by Cheryl Koos

On Sunday [May 5], France goes to the polls for one of the most critical elections in decades. European and American commentators almost uniformly expressed shock at the surprising strength of far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in France's first-round presidential election on April 21. But those observers who express surprise over the success and strength of neo-fascists in contemporary French politics have short memories. Many French may remember, but they have not been eag

Do Israeli Revisionists Think Israel Is Doing the Right Thing?

by Kenneth Stow

About three years ago, at a conference in Aman on the subject of religion and peace, attended by representatives of all faiths in the region (I was a member of the Italian Jewish delegation, entering Jordan on an American passport, although I was permitted publicly to identify myself as an Israeli academic-so is the arabesque, no pun intended, of the Middle East), we were treated to about four or five versions of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, or should I say better, the conflict in the Middl