Recently Published

There's Never Been a Veep Like Cheney

by Timothy Walch

Vice President Dick Cheney is featured in a new bestseller, and he isn't very happy about it. He is front and center in Ron Suskind's book, The Price of Loyalty, an insider account of the Bush administration written with the cooperation of former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. Based on information provided by O'Neill, Suskind implies that Cheney is the key source of authority in the Bush administration. It is safe to say Cheney is not your old-time vice president. Quietly,

More Evidence that Bush Is a "Dry Drunk"?

by Katherine van Wormer

Paul O’Neill’s revelations, the primary source for Ron Suskind’s book The Price of Loyalty concerning the timing of George W Bush’s plans to overthrow Saddam in Iraq should have come as no surprise. The ostensible reasons for going to war -- the claimed link between Iraq and al-Queda and the claimed possession of weapons of mass destruction -- have been shown to be without substance. The typical explanation offered by the mainstream press and political pundits was that

Historian's Diary: The State Department's Conference on the Six Day War

by Judith Apter Klinghoffer

Following is Ms. Klinghoffer's report on the recent conference by the State Department concerning the Six Day War. Pre-conference – I noticed on H- diplo a call for papers on the Six Day War. I offered to present one. I was busy, hated to regurgitate as I have not done any new research on the topic so I procrastinated. Luckily the organizer suggested I serve as a commentator or chair. Thr

Egads! UFO Believers Are Now Joining with Occultists and Others in a Giant Festival of Paranoia

by Daniel Pipes

Some people believe in the lost continent of Atlantis and in unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Others worry about an eighteenth-century secret society called the Bavarian Illuminati or a mythical Zionist-Occupied Government secretly running the United States. What if these disparate elements shared beliefs, joined forces, won a much larger audience, broke out of their intellectual and political ghetto, and became capable of challenging the premises of public life in the United States? Th

Review of Chalmers Johnson's The Sorrows of Empire

by Stanley Kutler

Chalmers Johnson's The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic explores the present extent of what Johnson regards as U.S. militarism and empire. It is a disquieting revelation of the effects of current affairs upon American freedom and democracy. Johnson, president of the Japan Policy Research Institute and professor emeritus at UC San Diego, is a formidable writer whose many books have garnered considerable acclaim. His work on the Japanese postwar pol

King Chirac: Off with Their Scarves!

by Wayne te Brake

French President Jacques Chirac's recent call for legislation forbidding the tokens of religious affiliation – headscarves, skullcaps and “large” crosses – in French public schools is pregnant with historical and political irony, not least of which is the political clout it implicitly gives to teenage Muslim women. Unfortunately, it also distorts the history of pluralism and religious freedom in the West. In a passionate, nationally televised address on Dece

Mr. Hitchens's Revisionism of His Own History

by Sean Wilentz

In his interview with the right-wing web magazine FrontPageMag.com, re-posted on HNN, Christopher Hitchens claims that his moment of truth about Islamic fascism arrived in 1989, and that by September 11, 2001, he had fully come to "[t]he realization that American power could and should be used for the defense of pluralism." He then says that after seeing the World Trade Center atrocities on television, he was exhilarated: "

Column: How the Democrats Are Helping Karl Rove Do His Work for Him

by P. M. Carpenter

Oh, how today's Democratic pols make one long for the era of smoke-filled rooms and corrupt bargains. Perhaps the bygone focus leaned a bit too heavy on the equitable distribution of graft and patronage rather than the best nominee, but on the upside, party bosses didn't spend their time writing splendid ads for the Republican National Committee. Times have changed. In pursuit of the party's highest nomination – a rather dubious prize in ‘04, you must admit – Democratic hopefuls are

Why We Better Keep an Eye on Azerbaijan

by Ron Briley

While the military occupation of Iraq continues to evoke considerable opposition and distrust among the Iraqi people (even with the capture of Saddam Hussein), the Bush administration has opened a diplomatic offensive to promote democracy in the Middle East. With an estimated four trillion dollars worth of oil lying off the western shores of the Caspian Sea, the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan figures prominently in American plans for the region. Western oil companies are

Critics Comment on Bellesiles's Defense

by James Lindgren, Jerome Sternstein, Clayton Cramer

Bellesiles’s Weighed in an Even Balance suffers from the same problem that Arming America did: he seems to have a problem reading simple English and understanding it.  Unfortunately, it is Bellesiles’s own writing now that he misreads, not historical documents.  Oddly, Bellesiles repeatedly quotes his critics—but fails to cite where these criticisms appeared

Response to My Critics

by Michael Bellesiles

On December 18, 2003 Soft Skull Press is publishing a revised and corrected edition of Michael Bellesiles's Arming America. In advance of publication the publisher released to the media a pamphlet by Bellesiles which summarizes his response to his critics. The title of the pamphlet, Weighed in an Even

The Holocaust Few Remember

by Ruth Rosen

IMAGINE IF a producer from National Public Radio invited a scholar to speak about his new book on the Jewish Holocaust and then, to provide "balance," included another guest known for denying that the Nazis murdered 6 million Jews. Inconceivable, right? Yet this is analogous to what happened to Peter Balakian, a professor of American Studies at Colgate University and author of The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response (HarperColli

Is America a Biblical Nation?

by Glenn Melancon

   The myth that the United States is founded on the"Judeo-Christian Bible" persists and prospers despite readily available evidence. Contrary to popular belief, the Founding Fathers rejected the biblical model in favor of a secular model of government.      The authors of the United States Constitution had first-hand experience with governments created and supported by God.  Preaching at the

Replace FDR on the Dime with Reagan?

by Colin Gordon

Representative Mark Souder (R-IN) is pushing to replace the profile of Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- on American dimes since 1946 -- with that of Ronald Wilson Reagan. Why? By most accounts, this is a simple and predictable episode of political symbolism. Conservatives, angered by now-infamous Reagan miniseries, are looking for a way to honor Reagan with the most common respected coin (pennies don't count) in America . Their choice of the dime is perhaps ill considered, as the connect

Column: Why Liberals Are Angry

by P. M. Carpenter

Akin to politically motivated charges of rising liberal incivility is the seductive, if not surprising, topic of very real liberal anger: seductive, because pondering its origins is fun; surprising, because anger seems so out of character with liberals' rather spineless image they themselves allowed to prevail. When liberals got fingered by militant detractors for unraveling America's moral fiber (a neat trick the liberals pulled off with satanic glee, of course), they abruptly laid low and

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

Should a Student Who Wants a Theology Degree Be Eligible for a State Scholarship? YES

by Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Catholic League

The Supreme Court is presently considering a case, Locke V. Davey, that raises questions about the history of American bigotry toward Catholics. Joshua Davey, a student in Washington State, sued when he was denied a scholarship to fund his theology degree. Washington denied the scholarship on the grounds that the state constitution forbids the mixing of church and state. When the case went to the ninth circuit court of appeals, the state lost.Like

Should a Student Who Wants a Theology Degree Be Eligible for a State Scholarship? NO

by Washington State

The Supreme Court is presently considering a case, Locke V. Davey, that raises questions about the history of American bigotry toward Catholics. Joshua Davey, a student in Washington State, sued when he was denied a scholarship to fund his theology degree. Washington denied the scholarship on the grounds that the state constitution forbids the mixing of church and state. When the case went to the ninth circuit court of appeals, the state lost.Like

Presidents Who Have Visited War Zones

On Thanksgiving Day 2003 President Bush visited Baghdad on a surprise visit to the troops occupying Iraq. Below is a list of several other presidents who have visited war zones.   On October 3, 1862 President Lincoln visited Antietam.

The Massachusetts Court Decision on Gay Marriage Is No Shocker

by Andrew Schocket

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, that state's highest court, decided this month that the state's constitution does not forbid same-sex civil marriages. It therefore paved the way for legal recognition of gay and lesbian marriages there. The decision has already heightened the national debate concerning same-sex marriages. And if at least one similar long-ago ruling from the same court is any indication, it's going to provoke a long, protracted, bitterly contested debate