For decades, American foreign policy has been off track. The United States has launched wars in far-flung corners of the globe that have not only killed and wounded thousands of brave members of the American military, but our foreign interventions have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of others, many of them innocent … Read more
â–º This column was updated with Maryknoll’s response at 4:45pm, April 9, 2008. Their letter follows the original piece. An editorial in the Jesuit’s America magazine recently predicted that Sen. Barack Obama will profit by the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States. The moment the Holy Father denounces the war … Read more
In a “Window” from last week, I addressed Catholic law professor Doug Kmiec, who had written an article in Slate titled “Reaganites for Obama?” In that piece, Kmiec made an argument encapsulated in the following sentence:”Beyond life issues, an audaciously hope-filled Democrat like Obama is a Catholic natural.” I criticized him for exemplifying the kind … Read more
This is the fourth of a four-part debate between Robert R. Reilly and Russell Shaw on the question, “Was the Iraq War just?” Â Five quick comments: 1. My thanks to Bob Reilly for making my point: UN weapons inspectors were back in Iraq months before the U.S.-led invasion. That Saddam Hussein wasn’t happy is … Read more
This is the fourth of a four-part debate between Robert R. Reilly and Russell Shaw on the question, “Was the Iraq War just?” Â It simply will not do to demote the importance of enforcing treaties at the end of wars to some kind of adolescent “need to save face.” After World War I, the … Read more
This is the third of a four-part debate between Robert R. Reilly and Russell Shaw on the question, “Was the Iraq War just?” I take no pleasure disagreeing with an admirable individual like Bob Reilly over the merits of a cause to which he’s as passionately committed as he is to the war in Iraq. … Read more
This is the third of a four-part debate between Robert R. Reilly and Russell Shaw on the question, “Was the Iraq War just?” Russell Shaw is an eminently reasonable man, so I am not surprised that he acknowledges that the differences between our two positions are based not on principles but on the wisdom of … Read more
This is the second of a four-part debate between Robert R. Reilly and Russell Shaw on the question, “Was the Iraq War just?” Sometime in late 2002 I composed a sort of mantra that I then took to repeating to family and friends: “I watched the first Gulf War in 1991 on TV in a … Read more