Boston Globe: ‘Sending US troops to fight ISIS will end in failure’
HOW WONDERFUL that the United States wants to help victimized people in Iraq and Syria! We played no small role in casting their region into its present chaos, so trying to repair some of the damage makes sense. But sending more American troops there, as President Obama did last week, will repair nothing. It will […]
Boston Globe: ‘The US ruined Libya’
JUST THREE years have passed since an American-led bombing campaign destroyed the regime of Moammar Khadafy in Libya. At first that operation felt like a victory for peace and freedom. By bringing down the dictator, we presumed we had “liberated” Libyans and that they would quickly settle into pro-American democracy. The speed with which we […]
Boston Globe: “Thirty-five years after Iranian hostage crisis, aftershocks remain”
JIMMY CARTER has called Nov. 4 “a date I will never forget.” Other Americans may not remember the date, but as a nation we are still captive to the humiliating trauma that began unfolding precisely 35 years ago during Carter’s presidency. At 10:30 on the morning of Nov. 4, 1979, several hundred young Iranians climbed the […]
Limit US armed forces to support, defense, and disaster relief
OVER THE past half-century, American leaders have sent soldiers to fight a series of faraway wars. The balance is grim. We lost all three of the supposedly vital wars we fought — in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Our only clear victory was over the Caribbean islet of Grenada. The world is changing in ways that make […]
Boston Globe: ‘Let go of grudges against Cuba, Iran’
IT IS a truism that nations should not have permanent enemies, but the United States seems to have two: Cuba and Iran. We have been in a state of controlled rage against both of them for as long as most Americans can remember. These dysfunctional relationships have much in common. Both have persisted far longer […]
