Roundup: Media's Take

Adam Cohen: Congress, the Constitution and War: The Limits on Presidential Power

... The Constitution’s provision that the president is the commander in chief clearly puts him at the top of the military chain of command. Congress would be overstepping if, for example, it passed a law requiring generals in the field to report directly to the speaker of the House. But the Constitution also gives Congress an array of war powers, including the power to “declare war,” “raise and support armies” and “make rules concerning captures on land and water.” By “declare war,”

Seth Gitell: New Thesis on Vietnam Aimed at 2008 Election

[Mr. Gitell (gitell.com) is a contributing editor of The New York Sun.] A new thesis about the end of the Vietnam war is making the rounds in the context of the debate over Iraq. It holds that President Nixon and Henry Kissinger — not the Democratic Congress and public opinion — were chiefly culpable in America's betrayal of South Vietnam. The managing editor of Foreign Affairs, Gideon Rose, is the most vocal proponent of this revision of history. According to Mr. Rose's writi

Michael Barone: Bush, Clinton, Bush--Clinton? It sounds like the War of the Roses.

Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton. It sounds like the Wars of the Roses: Lancaster, York, Lancaster, York. To compare our political struggles to the conflicts between rival dynasties may be carrying it too far. But we have become, I think, a nation that is less small-r republican and more royalist than it used to be. Viscerally, this strikes me as a bad thing. But as I've thought about it, I've decided that something can be said for the increasing royalism of our politics. And whether yo

Shankar Vedantam: Twisting Arms Isn't as Easy as Dropping Bomb

Whenever the United States goes to war, pro-war and antiwar advocates immediately reach for different history books. Hawks always equate the situation to a Hitler-Chamberlain standoff to show why hesitation can be fatal. Doves invariably pull the Vietnam War off the shelf to argue that plunging ahead can be foolhardy. Two wars that the United States has launched against Iraq perfectly illustrate the problem with cherry-picking your history. Hawks and doves made their usual arguments

Glenn Greenwald: Our little Churchills

[For the past 10 years, I was a litigator in NYC specializing in First Amendment challenges, civil rights cases, and corporate and securities fraud matters. I am the author of the New York Times Best-Selling book, How Would A Patriot Act?, a critique of the Bush administration's use of executive power, released May, 2006.] We've now arrived at the point where the White House and its followers reflexively characterize any criticism of the Leader's war of any kind as aid to the Enemy and an

Tom Cury: Why Bush is no Lyndon Johnson

The parallel seems irresistible: two presidents, two Texans, each caught in an unpopular war, hobbled in their last two years in the White House, with prospects getting dimmer for persuading Congress to enact their domestic agenda. When President Lyndon Johnson, mired in the Vietnam War, went before Congress on Jan. 10, 1967, he stood at the same point in his presidency that George Bush stood on Tuesday night: two years to go before the end. Last week presidential histo

Roger Pulvers: More than money was found wanting in "the lost decade" (Japan)

[Roger Pulvers is an Australian author, playwright and theater director, and a professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology. His latest book is a collection of 12 secular bible stories, "The Honey and the Fires," from ABC Books (Australia). Click here for his website.] Last week in this column, in an attempt to trace the roots of the nationalism now becomin

John Dean: The Controversy over Curtailing Habeas Corpus Rights: Why It Is a Bad Day For The Constitution Whenever Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Testifies

In the history of U.S. Attorney Generals, Alberto Gonzales is constantly reaching for new lows. So dubious is his testimony that he is not afforded the courtesy given most cabinet officers when appearing on Capitol Hill: Congress insists he testify under oath. Even under oath, Gonzales's purported understanding of the Constitution is historically and legally inaccurate, far beyond the bounds of partisan interpretation. No wonder that with each appearance he makes on Capitol Hill, Go

Peter Applebaum: Grover Cleveland did it

CALDWELL, N.J. Viewed though a contemporary lens, the guy born in the church parsonage that now sits across the street from a Dunkin’ Donuts on Bloomfield Avenue would face a few problems if he were running for president. There’s his Jackie Gleason physique. The admission that he fathered a child out of wedlock. The history of Democratic futility (Republicans had been in office for 24 years when he first ran). The propensity for failing to please his party’s powerful po

William Odom: What Can Be Done in Iraq?

[Lt. Gen. William E. Odom (Ret.).] ... Training the Iraqi military and police force has been proposed repeatedly as a way to bring stability to Iraq and allow US forces to withdraw. Recently, new variants, such as embedding US troops within Iraqi units, have been offered. The Iraq Study Group made much of this technique. I know of no historical precedent to suggest that any of them will succeed. The problem is not the competency of Iraqi forces. It is political consolid

Paul Krugman: Why politics in America is so polarized today

American politics is ugly these days, and many people wish things were different. For example, Barack Obama recently lamented the fact that “politics has become so bitter and partisan” — which it certainly has. But he then went on to say that partisanship is why “we can’t tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that’s what we have to change first.” Um, no. If history is any guide, what we need are political leaders willing to tackle the big problems despite bitter partisa

Dick Morris: Expanding His Presidency

As Jimmy Carter’s dismal presidency drew to a close, his field of vision was narrowed to an embassy in Tehran. On Richard Nixon’s last day, all he could see was a tape recorder. When Lyndon Johnson left office, all was forgotten but Vietnam. After his speech to the nation last week urging a larger troop commitment in Iraq, it seemed President Bush was destined to go down the same narrowing road to oblivion. But his State of the Union speech Tuesday night boldly broadened his presidential

WSJ Editorial: Congress has no Constitutional power to micromanage a war.

To understand why the Founders put war powers in the hands of the Presidency, look no further than the current spectacle in Congress on Iraq. What we are witnessing is a Federalist Papers illustration of criticism and micromanagement without responsibility. Consider the resolution pushed through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday by Joe Biden and Chuck Hagel, two men who would love to be President if only they could persuade enough voters to elect them. Both men voted

Scott McLemee: The relevance of books ripped from the headlines of 50 years ago

“Sixty Minutes” reported a couple of weeks ago that George W. Bush is now, on the advice of Henry Kissinger, reading a book about the Algerian War. My new year’s resolutions preclude taking any of the various cheap shots made conveniently easy by this bit of news. No, mustn’t. Instead, it’s worth dwelling on an interesting fact there, between the lines. Even someone with a pretty slight knowledge of the literature on the Algerian conflict (okay, I confess it) will immediately know w

Nat Hentoff: Journalists under fire today have been the enemy before

"I can say, as a matter of first principle, that unauthorized disclosure of classified information [by the press] has actually led to the death of individuals [who would not have been killed] had this information not been inappropriately put into the public domain."-- Michael Hayden, Director of the CIA, New York Daily News, December 1, 2006 "What we're really looking at is the criminalization of investigative reporting in this country, and we're on a very slippery sl

Bhaskar Dasgupta: Bring the troops back home ... Brave Departure or Shameful Flight?

[Dr. Bhaskar Dasgupta works in the city of London in various capacities in the financial sector. He has worked and travelled widely around the world. He has a BSc in Mathematics, an MBA in Finance & IT, a PhD in Financial Modelling and is working on his second PhD in International Relations and Terrorism. ] Have you read Michael Moore’s article on www.michaelmoore.com recently, where he says, the Americans need to cut and run, and that i

Ron Briley: Bush in Iraq ... The Cambodian Option

[Mr. Briley is Assistant Headmaster, Sandia Preparatory School.] As President George W. Bush attempts to disengage himself from the mess he orchestrated in Iraq, it appears that the President assumes the only way forward is through an escalation of the conflict. In this regard, Bush appears to be emulating his fellow Republican Richard Nixon. When Nixon was elected to the Presidency in 1968, protest against the Vietnam War was gaining momentum. The Tet Offensive con

Daniela Yanai: Simon Wiesenthal Center may be going too far say some by trying to build a museum on a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem

[DANIELA YANAI is a staff attorney for Ir Amim, an Israeli nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.] LAST WEEK, Israel's High Court of Justice ordered Los Angeles' Simon Wiesenthal Center and the municipality of Jerusalem to explain why they should be allowed to construct a new Museum of Tolerance on the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery. On the surface, it's a straightforward enough question. But it's really about mo

Roger Pulvers: Ah, those good old bad old '80s days (About Japan)

[Roger Pulvers is an Australian author, playwright and theater director, and a professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology. His latest book is a collection of 12 secular bible stories, "The Honey and the Fires," from ABC Books (Australia). Click here for his website.] When did Japan begin to change and enter its present phase of burgeoning nationalism? (I hesitate to call it "new" nationalism, beca

Sidney Blumenthal: State of Indifference

When the hopelessly prodigal son mounts the podium to deliver his sixth State of the Union address, seated behind him will be the parents he never had: the good mother, caring yet demanding responsibility, and the bad father, granting license for misadventure. As he evades and rebuffs Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, President Bush clings to Vice President Dick Cheney as his permissive authority figure. On Monday, the day before his speech, Bush descended to "the weakest point o