Overseas Contingency Operations and Such

by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media 

On the occasion of the outreach from Iran, and the embarrassment in Syria, it is wise to remember why and how our leaders became so inept at dealing with Islamists. Continue reading “Overseas Contingency Operations and Such”

Obama’s Watergates

Denial, evasion, “Let me be perfectly clear”–is this 2013 or 1973?

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

The truth about Benghazi, the Associated Press/James Rosen monitoring, the IRS corruption, the NSA octopus, and Fast and Furious is still not exactly known. Almost a year after the attacks on our Benghazi facilities, we are only now learning details of CIA gun-running, military stand-down orders, aliases of those involved who are still hard to locate, massaged talking points, and the weird jailing of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. Continue reading “Obama’s Watergates”

Revolutionary Tribunals

Our courts have too often become expressions of the popular will.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

In ancient Athens, popular courts of paid jurors helped institutionalize fairness. If a troublemaker like Socrates was thought to be a danger to the popular will, then he was put on trial for inane charges like “corrupting the youth” or “introducing new gods.” Continue reading “Revolutionary Tribunals”

Lies Subvert Demovracy

Obama and his team have subverted the government they pledged to serve.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Truth is the lifeblood of democracy. Without honesty, the foundations of consensual government crumble. Continue reading “Lies Subvert Demovracy”

Sophocles in Benghazi

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

What separated the great Athenian tragedian Sophocles from dozens of his contemporaries — now mere names attached to fragments and quotations — were his unmatched characters, an Ajax, Antigone, or Oedipus whose proverbially fatal flaws ultimately led to their own self-destruction. Continue reading “Sophocles in Benghazi”

The Wages of Libya

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

We have had ambassadors murdered abroad before, but we have never seen anything quite like the tragic fate of Chris Stevens. Amid all the controversy over Libya, we have lost sight of the human — and often horrific — story of Benghazi: a US ambassador attacked, cut off and killed alone, after being abused by frenzied terrorists, and a Continue reading “The Wages of Libya”

A Bright and Shining Libyan Lie

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Almost everything we have been told about Libya over the last two years is untrue. Continue reading “A Bright and Shining Libyan Lie”

The Ever-Stranger Case of a Murdered US Ambassador

by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

In the past — in Sudan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, etc. — the murder of an American ambassador sparked immediate debates over security lapses, but in the Libyan case the media seems to be doing its best not to investigate the circumstances around the murders. Continue reading “The Ever-Stranger Case of a Murdered US Ambassador”

Iraqi Irony

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Amid all the stories about the ongoing violence in Syria, the most disturbing is the possibility that President Bashar Assad could either deploy the arsenal of chemical and biological weapons that his government claims it has, or provide it to terrorists. Continue reading “Iraqi Irony”

The Democracy Delusion and Obama’s Failed Mideast Policy

by Bruce Thornton

Frontpage Magazine

The New York Times headline on Secretary of State Clinton’s visit to Egypt said it all: “US Is in a Quandary.” That’s putting it mildly. Better words for this administration’s foreign policy are “confused,” “contradictory,” and “delusional.” Continue reading “The Democracy Delusion and Obama’s Failed Mideast Policy”