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Try a little thought experiment. What would have happened in this country during the Cold War if the Soviet Union successfully neutralized anti-communists opposed to the Kremlin’s plans for world domination? Of course, Moscow strove to discredit those in America and elsewhere who opposed its totalitarian agenda – especially after Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s excesses made it fashionable to vilify patriots by accusing them of believing communists were “under every bed.”

Islamists' Catch-22 Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. Try a little thought experiment. What would have happened in this country during the Cold War if the Soviet Union successfully neutralized anti-communists opposed to the Kremlin’s plans for world domination? Of course, Moscow strove to discredit those in America and elsewhere who opposed its totalitarian agenda – especially after Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s excesses made it fashionable to vilify patriots by accusing them of believing communists were “under every bed.” But what if the USSR and its ideological soul-mates in places like China, North Korea, Cuba, Eastern Europe and parts of Africa had been...

A Tale of Two Books   By Frank J. Gaffney Jr. FrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, June 03, 2008 I don’t generally make a habit of disagreeing with Peggy Noonan.  She is after all, one of the most thoughtful, accomplished and influential wordsmiths of our time.  She is also a much-admired friend and colleague.In an essay published last week in the Wall Street Journal last weekend, however, Peggy offered what amounted to a defense of Scott McClellan’s new memoir of his years in the George W. Bush administration, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception. To...

According to reporting by Bill Gertz, The Washington Times' intrepid national security correspondent, Stephen Coughlin, a major in the U.S. Army Reserves who has served as a civilian lawyer to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, fell "afoul of a key aide to [Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon] England, Hasham Islam." If allowed to stand, the effect of Maj. Coughlin's dismissal would be a surgical strike on a man who is arguably one of the most knowledgeable opponents of Shariah — not only in the Defense Department, but inside the entire U.S. government.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is behaving like a zealot. In her ever-more-rash pursuit of a Palestinian state, she is exhibiting the syndrome defined by the philosopher George Santana, as one who redoubles her efforts upon losing sight of the objective. Let’s recall: The objective laid out by President Bush, when he decided in June 2002 to support the creation of a homeland for the Palestinian people, was to provide a stable, secure neighbor for Israel, committed to leaving peaceably with the Jewish State. Mr. Bush explicitly preconditioned such support on: an end to Palestinian terror; a Palestinian leadership that...

With Al Gore winning an Oscar for propagandizing about an admittedly somewhat hyped threat of global warming, the convergence of Hollywood with public policy is indisputable. It seems appropriate, therefore, to use an old Tinsel Town marketing line to herald the advent of a portentous strategic development: “They’re Baaack!” Presumably, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meant to be reassuring when she responded to a pointed question on Fox News Sunday about Russian threats to nuke Poland and the Czech Republic if the latter cooperate with the United States on missile defense. She declared, somewhat dismissively, to host Chris Wallace, “I...

For some politicians, it is tough under the best of circumstances to do the right thing when it comes to national security. Posturing about "peace dividends" chronically results in defense budgets and end-strengths insufficient to deter future acts of aggression -- and fight the ensuing wars. Intelligence programs are compromised by self-serving leaks and press-driven legislative responses. Pentagon leaders are savaged in public by legislators who thereby underscore their lack of understanding of the threats besetting our country, and the fact they have no better answers to the challenges thus posed. Unfortunately, a congressional byelection season in the second term...

There was only one thing truly astonishing about the revelation last week that Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's deputy at the State Department during George W. Bush's first term, was the source of Bob Novak's first column about Iraq war critic Ambassador Joe Wilson and his CIA agent wife, Valery Plame. That was Mr. Novak's subsequent description of the man who first "outed" Mrs. Plame's place of employment as "no partisan gunslinger."

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version December 07, 2005, 1:19 p.m. The Political Front Information is an important tool on the road to victory. In recent days, the prospects of the war for the free world have been buffeted by hysterical reactions to reports that the U.S. military has been secretly paying to place stories in the Iraqi press. The dust-up has caused panic in some circles, with congressmen demanding investigations and officials scurrying for cover. The result, for the moment at least, is an American rout in the war of ideas. This debacle evidently came...

The U.S. Senate is scheduled today to decide whether to clear the way for the most odious, anti-American piece of legislation in memory: S.147, the "Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act." Incredibly, as things stand now, more than 61 Senators are expected to vote to begin a process that would ineluctably unravel the United States as a nation.

In announcing last week a sweeping crackdown in Britain on the "evil ideology" of coming to be known as Islamofascism, Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that "the rules of the game have changed." So, it would appear has he. In fact, Mr. Blair has become an exemplar of the old adage that a "conservative is a liberal who has been mugged." The two bombing attacks on London's mass-transit systems, perpetrated mostly by home-grown Islamist suicide bombers (actual or would-be), not only mugged Britain's recently reelected leader, but his country, as well.

In announcing last week a sweeping crackdown in Britain on the "evil ideology" coming to be known as Islamofascism, Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that "the rules of the game have changed." So, it would appear, has he. In fact, Mr. Blair has become an exemplar of the old adage that a "conservative is a liberal who has been mugged." The two bombing attacks on London's mass-transit systems, perpetrated mostly by home-grown Islamist suicide bombers (actual or would-be), not only mugged Britain's recently reelected leader, but his country, as well. As a result, Tony Blair appears to have broad popular...

Within days of the murderous September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, President Bush declared before a joint session of Congress: "Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime." Unfortunately, under the leadership of King Fahd (actual or nominal), Saudi Arabia demonstrated it was possible to be with us and with the terrorists. Far from being regarded as a hostile regime,...

Memorandum for President George W. Bush: The speech you will give tonight about the status of and prospects for the war will likely prove to be among the most important of your presidency. In the final analysis, the American people and history will both judge the latter principally by your conduct of the former. Indeed, you were rehired by the voters largely because they had more confidence in your leadership as a war president than in your opponent's judgment and abilities. To continue enjoying this confidence, however, the speech must not be seen as a box-checking exercise in which today's...

Flash: Newseek has apologized. The magazine's editor says he is sorry for printing a possibly "mistaken" article that accused U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo of throwing copies of the Koran into prisoners' toilets. Evidently, Newsweek particularly regrets the murderous anti-American rioting the erroneous report set off in various parts of the Muslim world. Ironic though it may seem, we might just owe Newsweek a debt of gratitude for its shoddy reportage. After all, it provided a wake-up call to see how quickly and how skillfully our enemies seized upon evidence of American purported hostility to Islam to advance their own agenda.

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi recently said he expected the price of oil to remain at unconscionably high levels of between $40 and $50 per barrel through 2005. Ironically, every American should be grateful. Such gratitude is not, of course, due the Saudis — who, we are endlessly told, are among our most reliable "friends" in the Middle East — for working to drive down the price set by the OPEC oil racketeers. The Saudis seem content to keep prices exorbitantly high, though they are well aware of the adverse effect of such artificially inflated costs on the financial...

Donald Rumsfeld is one of the most experienced men in Washington. So he is presumably not surprised at the fickleness of the chattering classes. Not so long ago, he got nothing but fabulous press and fawning treatment from Congress and the public. Now, the "smart people" have formed up for a political lynch mob demanding his head, with even Republicans insisting that he lose his job once the votes are counted in Iraq.     Even a veteran of decades of inside-the-Beltway and corporate bloodletting like "Rummy" might be amazed by the grounds on which he is being pilloried, however.     Take for...

Did the Russians help Saddam pre-war to cover the tracks of their conventional, WMD arms trade? (Washington, D.C.): Intrigue surrounding the disappearance of 377 tons of explosives from the al-Qaqaa facility in Iraq seems to be deepening, while preliminary reports that the material was lost due to American negligence appear to be among the least likely of explanations. As initially suggested to the public by the New York Times, large quantities of powerful HMX and RDX - plastic high-explosives that can be used for civilian purposes but are particularly well suited to military ones (including triggering nuclear weapons) and terrorist...

[snip]Now, Mr. Kerry unconvincingly claims that he will be able to demonstrate strength where George W. Bush has failed thanks to his experience negotiating with foreign countries (principally, it would appear, aimed at normalizing relations with Communist Vietnam), his service on the Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees and his first-hand acquaintanceship with a number of world leaders. His anti-strength tendencies show through, however, when he slips — as he apparently did on Fox on Sunday — and declares, "I understand how to get us out of Iraq."     On Thursday night, Mr. Kerry offered his audience what seemingly was intended to...

(Washington, D.C.): On the face of it, last week's Democratic National Convention was a gavel-to-gavel paean to the philosophy of peace through American strength. Speaker after speaker invoked the strength of their presidential candidate. For his part, John Kerry extolled the importance of strength - and wrapped himself in its imagery - no fewer than seventeen times in his acceptance speech. Yet, Sen. Kerry is to strength what anti-matter is to matter, what anti-gravity is to gravity. He is, in short, the anti-strength candidate. This is the case for a simple reason: Effective strength is more than a physical attribute....