Congressman Charles Rangel plans to introduce legislation calling for reinstatement of the military draft. He says, "There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was...
Military
Jesus vs. The Marines
The Marines have earned a reputation for standing firm, even when attacked on all sides. Apparently, this legacy no longer applies when the weapon used against them is a talking Jesus doll.
The Military Doctrine of Altruism
A New York Times article recently described the military skills our soldiers will need to engage in the operations our politicians are asking them to perform ("Military Hones a New Strategy on Insurgency," October 5, 2006). The new doctrine renounces overwhelming...
The Society for Military History: A Report from the Front
I just returned from the national conference of the Society for Military History (SMH), held at Kansas State University. I presented a paper on the military campaigns of the Roman Emperor Aurelian, arguing that his use of overwhelming force had resulted in a bloodless...
A Military of the Mind: Military Has a Place At Universities
According to college opinion writer Henry M. Bowles, III ("Military has no place at universities," January 24, 2006) the military should not seek to fill its ranks with men and women of intelligence and ability because "less intelligent people are better equipped for...
The Virginia Military Institute and Abortion
The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a curious institution--it is both a military academy and a state-supported college. Its history draws back to before the US Civil War (future confederate general Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson served as a professor) and all of its...
No Apologies for Hiroshima and Nagasaki
America was not the aggressor in World War II, but the victim of a brutal attack.
Weaponization of Space: Designing a U.S. Military Policy Toward Space That Is Based on Reality
We are engaging in the debate over what arms control advocates refer to as the "weaponization of space." These advocates are arguing for a policy that would jettison a number of important U.S. military capabilities in space, including--but not limited to--...
Draft Equals Moral Bankruptcy
Opinion surveys have indicated that a growing number of young people and their parents are wary of the Army's recruiting pitch at a time when soldiers in Iraq are killed and wounded virtually every day. Spring is typically one of the more difficult periods of the year...
Drafts–Real and Imagined
If you are John Kerry, how do you strike fear in the hearts of twenty-somethings--a demographic that typically leans left but is notoriously unlikely to show up at the polls on Election Day? One way is to hint that your opponent plans to draft them into the military....
Questioning George W. Bush’s Military Service
Imagine for a moment Donald Trump in front of a corporate board of directors as candidate for the job of CEO. During the course of the interview a director asks Trump about an entry level job as clerk he held thirty plus years ago. The director points out that...
The Power Struggle in China: Military Strongman Jiang Zemin vs. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao
The power struggle in Beijing between China's military strongman, Jiang Zemin, and the country's two reformist government leaders, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, is of momentous importance to the United States and East Asia. As the Chinese Communist Party...
The Power of Liberty To Transform Nations
President George W. Bush, in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention: "The progress we and our friends and allies seek in the broader Middle East will not come easily, or all at once. Yet Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the...
The Moral Use of Force Against Dictators Like Saddam Hussein
Q: Dr. Hurd, you advocate the use of pre-emptive force against terrorist states (e.g. Saddam Hussein's Iraq) yet, in seeming contradiction, you assert that the initiation of physical force is never justified for any reason. Am I missing something ? A: Yes. First of...
The Media Frenzy Over Abu Ghraib Military Prison in Iraq
The American Civil War was not about conditions in Andersonville prison and the war in Iraq is not about conditions in Abu Ghraib prison. Terrible things happened in both military prisons but that was a small part of both these wars. When our troops are putting their...
The Economics of the Military Draft
Last year, Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) introduced bills calling for reinstatement of the military draft. A far more descriptive term for the military draft is government confiscation of labor services, but keeping with the spirit of...
The Roots of Iraq’s Recent Wave of Violence
I therefore counsel the occupying forces quickly to leave Iraqi cities and then, when feasible, to leave Iraq as a whole
America’s Failing War Effort (Part 10 of 12): Military Deployment and Readiness
It is presumptuous and impossible for civilian laymen to evaluate the intricacies of military policy. These are details best left to experts in military science. But civilians are in a position to evaluate the overall strategies of military policy, insofar as they...
The Draft Is Anathema To Human Freedom
In his Op-Ed column, "To arms," Tony Blankley argues that the youth of America needs to be sacrificed for the greater good and hints that we may need the draft to do it. Referencing the last living veterans of this generation, Blankly writes: Just as the country that...
Who’s Guarding our Military Equipment?
On Oct. 3, an illegal alien truck driver from Canada was caught hauling a shipment of Humvees into northern Maine. They weren't just any Humvees. They were U.S. military Humvees scheduled for delivery from the Texas Army National Guard in Houston to the Maine National...
Militant Islam Reaches America
Terrorism, in other words, is just one dimension of a war that has many fronts and takes many forms.
Pentagon Jihadis
Islamists who despise America have penetrated U.S. prisons, law enforcement, and armed forces.
P.C. Religious Police vs. America’s Military
There's something terribly wrong when an American soldier overseas can't receive Scriptures in the mail, but a Muslim chaplain can preach freely among al Qaeda and Taliban enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay. This is a story of two soldiers, one Christian, one Muslim....
America’s Military Must Focus on Vital Missions
Even as West African peacekeeping forces began landing in Liberia, the calls for American troops continued. "You Americans alone are the only people who can help us," a fighter with the Liberian president's anti-terrorism unit told The Washington Post. Yet the fact...