Latest Articles

This War Would Be Hell, Too

March 4, 2010  •  Scripps Howard News Service

If a top intelligence expert said America was not prepared for war and, indeed, that if we went to war "we would lose," that would worry you, wouldn't it? Start worrying.

The expert is Mike McConnell, who served as director of the National Security Agency under President Clinton and as director of national intelligence under President Bush. He was referring not to a conventional war, a guerrilla war, or an insurgency. He was referring to a cyberwar. But understand: Cyberwar does not mean fun and video games. McConnell told a Senate committee last week that the risk we face from cyberattacks "rivals nuclear weapons in terms of seriousness."

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How to Stifle Speech

February 25, 2010  •  Scripps Howard News Service

There's an old Soviet joke in which an American tells a Russian: "In my country we have freedom of speech. I can stand in front of the White House and yell, 'Nixon is an idiot!' and nothing will happen to me." The Russian replies: "In my country, we have the same freedom. I can stand in front of the Kremlin and yell, 'Nixon is an idiot!' and nothing will happen to me either."

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Who's Losing Iraq?
And could Iran be winning?

February 18, 2010  •  Scripps Howard News Service

"I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration."

Vice President Joseph Biden's comments to CNN's Larry King sparked a brouhaha for an obvious reason: When they were senators, Biden and Barack Obama opposed the "surge" that averted America's defeat in Iraq. It takes chutzpah for them to now claim credit for the fruits of that strategy.

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Iran's Unhappy Anniversary

February 11, 2010  •  Scripps Howard News Service

Iran's Islamic Revolution took place 31 years ago today. The country's monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, missed it. He had gone abroad in mid-January promising that, when he returned, he would only reign — not govern.

That wasn't good enough for the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni, then living in exile in France. On February 1, he flew a chartered jet back to Iran where he was greeted by millions of supporters, many of whom believed he was, quite literally, the messiah, the "hidden imam" awaited by the Shi'a faithful for centuries. Less than two weeks later, the Shah's government collapsed.

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Western Civilization on Trial
Why we should be watching Geert Wilders

February 8, 2010  •  National Review Online

I used to think of the Netherlands as a land of tulips, windmills, Anne Frank, and a little boy with his finger in the dike. Increasingly, I think of it as the place where Theo van Gogh was murdered in broad daylight, Aayan Hirsi Ali was betrayed, and free speech is on trial.

Pretty much all you need to know about the prosecution of the controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders was summed up in a single (if run-on) sentence attributed to the "Openbaar Ministerie," which is not, as the name might suggest, a place that serves free whiskey to pastors. It is the prosecution service of the Dutch Ministry of Justice.

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