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There's this strange sense in the zeitgeist that robotic warfare is somehow disreputable. If you read the news, hardly a day goes past without some deprecatory reference to the use of drones by the United States in its ongoing war against al-Qaeda and affiliated groups. The sense that there is something amiss with the deployment of drones in combat permeates popular media. Indeed, thinking off the top of my head, I can't think of a single example in recent popular culture where the deployment of a drone has been positively portrayed. I believe that this is madness -- the sort...

When I sat down to write a follow-up to my first series The Third World War: A Narrative History, I initially struggled for a topic. After writing a thousand-page epic story of armies of millions clashing across continents, almost any other subject seemed puny in comparison. I played with a concept called “The Tenth Crusade”, about an effort to carve out a Christian “homeland” in the Middle East but, after doing some research, that seemed to me to be a topic that could only genuinely be done justice after some years of research and some actual time spent in the...

Insight's "Bush Won!!" Posted October 1, 2004 By Adam Yoshida "As has been pointed out at length over recent days, the final verdict on any debate takes two or three days to be rendered. But let me try and pre-empt that now: Bush won not only the debate but, in all probability, the election. Senator Kerry stood up well but, once more, he didn't say anything. In fact, coming out of the debate, I'm less clear as to what Kerry actually thinks about Iraq and the broader War on Terrorism than I was before I went in. Kerry's managed to...

A Surprise Nuclear Attack is Our Only Chance On one matter there can be little doubt: the Stalinist Monarchy which calls itself the ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” is, by far, the greatest threat to peace today. It is persistently and recklessly aggressive, an economic basket case perpetually on the brink of total collapse, and run by a man who seemingly lacks any basic connection to reality and who, in any sane nation, would be institutionalized. More than that, it has just become the world’s newest nuclear power and has given us every reason to believe that they intend to...

I think that many people who have seen the sixth ad being put out by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth will agree with me when say that the ad, entitled "Friends" had the potential to do as much damage to the Kerry campaign as the entire Rathergate/Danron fiasco. Don't believe me? Watch the ad yourself. And, in case you can't see it, here's a transcript. The beauty of this ad is that it is simple, verifiably true, and utterly devastating. We know that John Kerry met with the Vietnamese Communists because he admitted it to us. We know that,...

The Lead Moderator has graciously pointed out that Adam Yoshida's material is no longer welcome at Free Republic. And, I must agree. Yoshida is too extreme. And today, I failed to read the full context of the last paragraph in his recent message. It was correct to wipe the message off the board and I am heartened to know that the moderators are doing their job.Many times, I did not post his stuff because of his extreme views. I should have done likewise this time. To my FRiends, rest assured that Yoshida's views are his - and some are very...

Frankly, one of the main reasons for the present troubles in Iraq is the fact that the initial offensive into that country was overly quick and insufficiently destructive. Irregular resistance is almost always contemplated (and often planned for) at the end of a major war. At the end of the Civil War some Confederate hotheads wished to fight on, but were discouraged from doing so by General Lee. Various factions in Germany and Japan pondered continued resistance after the Second World War but, ultimately that resistance failed to materialize in any meaningful way. Too many were already dead and the...

Some have suggested that I believe the United States to be perfect. This is, in fact, far from the truth. The Untied States has made serious mistakes in its history: it’s just that the real mistakes are not the ones commonly identified by America’s opponents. The problem is not that America is too aggressive, too bullying, or too imperialistic: but that it is insufficiently all of those things. Mistakes by American leaders are, to a great degree, responsible for creating the world in which we live. It’s just that the mistakes are not the ones we commonly identify. I’m going...

“The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.” These are not the words of Al Jazeera, or the ravings of some fanatical Moslem Sheik. They are the words of Michael Moore, Oscar-winning filmmaker, best-selling author, and ostensibly an “American.” There is only one word which can be used to describe such a man: traitor. Based upon the success of his movies and the sales of his books, it’s fair to call Michael Moore the leading...

While it was largely forgotten in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, in recent decades the internment of Japanese-Americans during that war has become one of the most regularly discussed (or, at least, one of the most regularly taught to students) issues related to the war. It is often used by individuals of a certain temperament and character to prick the balloon of “good war” mythology which has sprung up around World War Two. Some have gone to somewhat insane lengths to make this point, for reasons that are there own. One suggested “lesson plan” for High School...

Today I stumbled upon Books for Soldiers (www.booksforsoldiers.com) an excellent program which links Americans serving overseas up with books and other materials. While I admire this program, I was shocked to see that Michael Moore is using this opportunity to ship thousands of copies of his books and DVD’s overseas to propagandize American servicemen, apparently in an effort to destroy their morale. I can’t imagine that anyone sitting in the Mesopotamian desert could read Dude, Where’s My Country? and come out feeling good about themselves or their service (that being, if they take Michael Moore seriously). This is an utterly...

When the history of the Iraq War is ultimately written the major criticism of President Bush may not be that he moved too soon, but that he waited too long. He had the best of intentions, of course. Prime Minister Blair and Secretary Powell, among others, thought it was best to go through the UN. So did American public opinion. So did opposition Democrats and much of the American foreign policy establishment. There was no need to, “rush to war,” the opponents of conflict repeatedly assured Americans. But they were wrong. After David Kay, the former head of the Iraqi...

The Deficit Hoax Those who are throwing a fit over a few billion in spending by the Bush Administration (and who are not, as many Democrats are, deathbed converts to the concept of fiscal responsibility) are missing the point. A few billion here and there are nothing in the face of the fact that, according to the non-partisan Concord Coalition, the unfunded Social Security and Medicare liabilities of the Federal Government are (in present-day dollars) somewhere in the neighbourhood of 24.1 trillion dollars and this number is growing with each passing day, each birth, and each expansion of the span...

Just who is backing Moqtada al-Sadr? Is he backed by a groundswell of Shiite opinion? Hardly: all media whining aside, there are no signs of a true “mass uprising” among the Shiite population of Iraq. If there were, the “civilian” dead in Southern Iraq would number in the thousands or tens of thousands and the pictures would be being played around the clock on television. In fact, when given their chance to voice their opinions democratically in the form of local elections, the Shiites of Iraq have repeatedly and consistently opted for secularists over Islamists. Who then is backing al-Sadr...

In the next few days we’re going to hear a lot from both war opponents and a variety of nervous twits who are ostensibly on our side about how we’re “losing” Iraq. This will be patent nonsense, of course, but it will get very good play in the media. “Iraq is in chaos,” various correspondents will intone to the very concerned and proper nods of the anchor back in New York or Atlanta. The timid among the Congress (meaning: about eighty members of the Senate) will all suddenly become convinced of their own strategic genius, along with all of the...

The Bush Administration has been predicting an upswing in violence in Iraq during the months leading up to the transfer of power on June 30th. It should, therefore, hardly be a surprise to see that this upswing has arrived. The forces we face in Iraq are not growing stronger overall, but rather weaker. They are desperate, damaged, and disintegrating with only a single, final, hope. In the last day the internet has been abuzz with stories of a “coup d’etat” in progress in Iraq, discussing how followers of Shiite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are taking to the streets in the “tens...

Did you know that the Democratic National Committee is sponsoring, to the tune of hundreds and perhaps even thousands of dollars, a man whose response to the killing and mutilation of four American security contractors in Fallujah was, “Screw them”? Perhaps the phrase can enter the lexicon of this year’s Democratic insanity, along with Howard Dean’s scream and John Kerry inanely intoning, “Bring it on,” over and over again. Two hundred people were murdered by terrorists in Spain? “Screw them.” After all, they brought it on themselves by opposing al-Qaeda’s just and right desire for the restoration of the medieval...

From the reaction to the Israeli assassination of Hamas’ “Spiritual Leader”, Sheik Yasin, in some quarters you’d have thought that the Israelis had entered and defiled the Church of the Nativity. No, wait, it was the Palestinians who did that. Well, forget about that then. The primary reaction from European and Western sources was to exclaim their hatred for Yasin’s role in the mass-murder of innocent Israelis, but an equal concern for the fate of the so-called “peace process”. Frankly, I can barely speak the word without spitting it out. As Patrick Henry said, “Peace? But there is no peace....

People ought to read the actual preliminary reports being released by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (popularly known as the “9-11 Commission”) instead of listening to the confrontational blather of Democrat partisans both on and before the commission and elsewhere. Contrary to what is being widely claimed in the media, the actual findings of the commission do not “blame Bush and Clinton equally,” rather they paint a damning picture of the failure of Democratic policies towards terrorism from the 1990’s. The present-day actions of the left give us no reason to believe that, if given...

I expect there to be as much (or more) violence at the Republican National Convention in New York City this September as occurred at the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. At the very least, the convention will almost certainly bring the worst civil disturbances that the United States has seen since the World Trade Organization met in Seattle. This, of course, is potentially perilous: but it might well also be a magnificent opportunity. Frankly, I wouldn’t be shocked to see real street battles. The extreme left is angry. Angrier than I’ve ever seen them. And they will be made...