Free Republic

We live in an upside-down civilization of hit Michael Moore conspiracy films, of novels about how to kill a sitting President of the United States, of elite American newsmen ridiculing brave Iraq democrats, and of allied peoples abroad who tell pollsters that they prefer beheaders and fascists to win in Iraq. Perhaps we should take a hard look at this current mythic world. The “Iraq Was a Mistake” Canard Richard Clarke now lectures his newfound paying audiences — including the revered nonpartisan American Library Association — that Iraq was an enormous mistake. Was it really? Our problems are tactical and...

The mortification of Iraqi prisoners by American military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad has been discomfiting far beyond the impact of the now-infamous images. Coupled with other reports about harsh post-9/11 tactics to garner information from captured terrorists, and with ongoing investigations into deaths alleged to have occurred in connection with interrogations, Abu Ghraib and the reaction to it have forced front and center a profound national evasion: the propriety of torture. As one would expect, the scandal has produced no small amount of righteous indignation. The civil-libertarian lobby, operating in overdrive, has issued ringing declarations that...

Happy Canada Day. In the United States, they have Independence Day; in Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day; in France, Bastille Day; in Serbia, Genocidal Whacko Appreciation Day. But here in Canada we need a Day to remind us that we’re in Canada. We’ve had Canada Day for two decades now, and most Canadians will have no difficulty agreeing on which was the greatest Canada Day of all: July 1, 1989. It was 15 years ago today that Hugh Hefner, who’s always been partial to maple babes, wed Canuck Playmate Kimberley Conrad. Romance had sparked a few months earlier when Hef  had...