Free Republic

With the Nov. 5 election just over a fortnight away, here is an intriguing thought experiment. By most accounts, the election is still a horse race too close to call. But although Vice President Kamala Harris quickly assumed the presidential mantle from Joe Biden and put in place an impressive start-up, October has not been particularly kind to her. Donald Trump has closed the electoral gaps, and some believe he is actually leading. No matter who wins, we have to ask: Would President Biden have been a better candidate and choice despite suffering from the effects of age and 81...

This week marks the 60th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that committed the United States to fighting and then losing the Vietnam War. On Aug. 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese PT boats that wrongfully believed Maddox was part of a South Vietnamese strike group delivering a hit-and-run raid on the north. Two days later, the Maddox and USS Turner Joy were ordered back on patrol off the North Vietnamese coast. Both reported being attacked by North Vietnamese PT boats. But those attacks never took place. President Lyndon B. Johnson, however, used the...

Tragedy has almost as many definitions and meanings as it has actual examples.In terms of foreign policy, tragedy can mean a collision of two seemingly valid principles that come into conflict. In Vietnam, the noble aim of bringing some measure of peace, stability and justice to a war-ravaged country was unachievable under the guise of preventing the spread of "Godless, monolithic communism."Tragedy is also inevitable when the obvious best outcome has no chance of surviving the brutal realities and harsh conditions required to end a conflict or war. Ukraine is the clearest example, as this tragedy continues to devastate that...

ELEANOR HALL: A key US military strategist who counts the former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, among his students, is absolutely scathing about the current Bush administration's strategy in Iraq and says no one except the President is in any doubt that it should change. Harlan Ullman who's now at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, says the US lost control of events in Iraq almost immediately after the invasion and that far from assisting in the development of democracy, the US-led allies, including Australia, have fomented chaos. But Dr Ullman says he holds out little hope that either...

The last of three excerpts.     The crisis in American governance is easy to define and difficult to fix. The array of problems facing the nation is as complex as at any time in our history. Many have no good or clear solution such as regaining the moral high ground in the war on terror. If containing the pernicious excesses of culture, crusade and partisanship are the best or only way to improve governance, what must be done? First, unless the public engages its government, effective action cannot follow. Second, accountability must be returned to government and government disciplined to act...

The first of three excerpts.     If you are increasingly concerned, worried, or even angry about America's future and what it may hold, I urge you to read on. The United States is in trouble, and for two major reasons. First, our federal government is currently unable to deal with the plethora of problems facing it. Second, Americans do not fully understand the nature or the depth of the dangers that confront us or the consequences of deferring action until it may be too late.     Iraq and the Global War on Terror are the most visible and immediate dangers. But even...

The second of three excerpts.     How America has been put at grave risk can be understood by charting the evolution of three facets of our society captured by the phrases "culture," "crusade" and "partisanship." Throughout our history, when the excesses from each skewed our judgment, the nation fell into great danger. Failure after World War I to make a just peace in Europe and the Vietnam debacle arose from these excesses. When better angels prevailed, such as during and immediately following the Second World War, the nation could be inspired to greatness.     American culture today has become coarser reflected in...

Powell aides go public on rift with Bush Chief of staff says secretary of state is fed up with apologising for the administration and is disdainful of 'ideological' hawks Gary Younge in New York Thursday May 6, 2004 The Guardian Colin Powell's key aide has described US sanctions policy against countries such as Pakistan and Cuba as "the dumbest policy on the face of the Earth". In an article in GQ magazine Larry Wilkerson, chief of staff of the United States secretary of state, bemoans Mr Powell's firefighting role in President George Bush's cabinet. "He has spent as much time...