Free Republic

The parallels between the state of our country and the spectacular fall of Athens are too disturbing to ignore. The Athenian democracy fell to Sparta in 404 B.C. That disaster was not inevitable; it was the result of a series of poor decisions, themselves the result of greed and self-interest on the part of various factions. Had the Athenians not followed the advice of a charismatic but rash leader, Alcibiades (whom they then exiled, driving him to the other side, where he served as an adviser before returning to Athens to unleash further mischief), they might not have sent their...

A Just War analysis of a proposed attack on Syria. There are eight specific criteria for judging the justice of a war, and the justice of actions within a war. Six of these deal with the justice of going to war ("waging a just war); the other two deal with the justice of actions within a war ("waging war justly"). The first criterion is "just cause." There are three classic just causes: to repel an attack, to retake what was taken unjustly, and to come to the aid of the victim of an unjust attack. Clearly the first two do...

Remember the Powell doctrine? Elaborated by Colin Powell back in 1990, during his tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it consisted of a series of questions identifying the conditions that should be met before committing U.S. military forces to battle. The questions were: 1. Is a vital national security interest threatened? 2. Do we have a clear attainable objective? 3. Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed? 4. Have all other nonviolent policy means been fully exhausted? 5. Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement? 6. Have the consequences of our...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says President Barack Obama should nominate Colin Powell as secretary of state as a “bipartisan” gesture toward mending fences with Republican senators who rejected U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for the post. “I actually think it would not be a bad idea for President Obama to seriously consider seeing if Colin Powell would come back out of retirement because Colin did endorse him,” Gingrich told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Thursday night. “That might be a bipartisan step that would move us in a direction of a different kind of dialogue,” he said, suggesting that Powell’s moderate...

President Barack Obama said that an introduction of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war would constitute a "red line" with "enormous consequences" that "would change [his] calculus." That was a year ago. This past March, Obama said, "We will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people, or the transfer of those weapons to terrorists. ... We will hold [Bashar al-Assad] accountable." Credible sources -- including Britain, France and U.S. intelligence agencies -- accuse the Syrian government of using chemical weapons on two or more occasions, once last December and possibly twice during March. Obama took...

It seemed somehow fitting, and fittingly sad, that Colin Powell saw his resignation accepted as secretary of state on the day marines completed their conquest of Falluja, ensuring that the televised snapshots of glory drawn from his long public career would be interspersed with videotape of American troops presiding over scenes of urban devastation in a far-off and intractable war. As I watched images from Mr. Powell's life flicker past, and as the fruits of the American victory became clear - a ravaged city; an elusive enemy, most of whom had escaped; a countrywide counterattack in which insurgents seized parts...

The Powell Delusion Shortly after Gulf War I, Gen. Colin Powell (then head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), articulated a formula for future U.S. military interventions that has since become known as the Powell Doctrine. Broadly speaking, the Powell Doctrine stated that the United States would deploy military forces only under the following conditions: 1). There must be a clear threat to US national security. 2). All non-military options must be first exhausted. 3). Overwhelming force should be deployed against the opponent. 4). There must be widespread public support for the military intervention. 5). There must be a clear...