Sharansky on Freedom
September 27, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Some believe that certain controversial interrogation techniques are acceptable. But after nine years in the Soviet Gulag, and 400 days in punishment cells, I know that sleep deprivation, exposure to cold, and enforced hunger are forms of torture. Maintaining our principles in the face of terror is sometimes dangerous. Abandoning those principles would be even [...]
Press Purge in Persia
September 14, 2006 | Leave a Comment
The chessboard cartoon—captioned “The Alternative Rules of the Game”—showed a white knight facing off against a black donkey encircled in a halo of light. The light seemed to refer to a speech by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his reported comments that his audience saw him surrounded by a divine light during a speech to [...]
Goodnight, Oakland
September 12, 2006 | Leave a Comment
With LaDainian Tomlinson running through the Oakland defense and Shawn Merriman harassing Aaron Brooks, it didn’t matter who played quarterback for San Diego. Tomlinson ran for 131 yards and one touchdown and the Chargers shut out Oakland for the first time since 1961 to take pressure off Philip Rivers in his first NFL start, a [...]
Success or Failure?
September 11, 2006 | Leave a Comment
In the five years since Sept. 11, the tactics and strategy of Islamic extremists fighting U.S. or NATO forces have improved dramatically. To a degree they could not approach five years ago, the extremists are successfully facing off against the overwhelming technological apparatus that modern armies can bring to bear against guerrillas. Islamic extremists are [...]
Terrorists Get Rights
September 6, 2006 | Leave a Comment
[/caption]President Bush announced that 14 “high-value” detainees, who were held at secret CIA prisons, were transferred to the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay and granted protection under the 1949 Geneva Conventions. It is the first time the administration publicly acknowledged the existence of the prisons. “These are dangerous men, with unparalleled knowledge about terrorist [...]