By Jon Vruwink

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Guantanamo Bay remains a stain on the reputation of the U.S.

Tuesday morning, a reporter asked President Barack Obama for his views on the latest developments at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, where at least half of the 166 prisoners have been leading a hunger strike to protest their decade-long, due-process-free incarceration. The president responded unequivocally, “The idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried, that is contrary to who we are. It is contrary to our interests and it needs to stop.” Unfortunately, President Obama’s eloquent words have not been matched by the corresponding course of action. Indeed, the policies pursued during his presidency have served to bolster, rather than eliminate, the principle of due-process-free detention.

Worldwide violence is often overlooked

Tragedy opens a window into the soul of a people. In the midst of the horrific bombing attack at the Boston Marathon, and despite the possibility of more bombs detonating, scores of first responders rushed to risk their lives in the service of complete strangers. As just one of many examples of such selflessness and heroism, Dr. Natalie Stevens, who ran in the race, convinced the police to let her through the snow fences lining the streets. Stevens then administered CPR to a fallen woman and used a tourniquet to stem the bleeding of a man who very well might have died had she chosen instead, quite sensibly, to stay out of harm’s way.

Leaders refuse to admit mistake of Iraq

This March marked the ten-year anniversary of the onset of the Iraq War, now widely regarded as one of the biggest foreign policy catastrophes in American history. Exactly 4,488 Americans lost their lives in the war, alongside a minimum of 120,000 Iraqis, with some studies placing the Iraqi death toll as high as 1.5 million. On top of this sickening and incomprehensible carnage, at least four million Iraqis have been displaced, half of them fleeing the country and the other half relocating within Iraq. U.S. taxpayers have financed this venture to the tune of two trillion dollars, with the ultimate bill likely to run anywhere between four and six trillion dollars when factoring in the costs of health care and disability payments for returning soldiers, including the 253,000 troops who suffered traumatic brain injuries, according to a report by Linda Bilmes of Harvard University.

Sen. Rand Paul's filibuster holds truth

Every once in a while, an incident comes along that perfectly clarifies the state of our political discourse. Last week, Sen. Rand Paul’s, R-Kentucky, 13-hour filibuster did exactly that. Anyone even remotely concerned with civil liberties, checks and balances and due process of law should have cheered Paul’s filibuster for seeking explicit limits on the use of drones against American citizens on American soil. Indeed, Paul’s discussion, while welcome, did not go remotely far enough in scope.

Chavez's successes misrepresented and ignored by American media

'Argo' inaccurately downplays American interventionism

Ben Affleck’s “Argo” took home the prize for Best Picture at the Oscars on Sunday night. While I am pleased “Zero Dark Thirty,” Kathryn Bigelow’s film falsely portraying torture as central to uncovering Osama bin Laden’s hideout, went home virtually empty-handed, Affleck’s film likewise comes packed with ideological baggage. Namely, “Argo” peddles in the same old Orientalist tropes long prevalent in Hollywood: bearded, wild-eyed, raging Iranians incomprehensibly attempting to inflict harm on benevolent, good-hearted Americans. Such a Manichean portrayal does no service at a time when understanding, not demonization, is required to avoid future fiascoes in the Middle East.  

Threat of terrorism an exaggeration

Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, professed that “if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.” Our elected representatives, Democrat and Republican alike, have spent the past dozen years verifying the potency of this observation in relation to the supposed existential threat posed by terrorists around the globe. One can, on a daily basis, pick up a newspaper or turn on the television to find solemn intonations from congressmen on the menace of so-called “Islamic terrorism,” and the consequent increases in government power needed to stem this threatening tide. While such assertions dominate our public discourse, rarely do you hear any evidence to substantiate such claims. Once a belief becomes orthodoxy among our two major political parties, the usual need to provide evidentiary support goes out the window.

Proposed pipeline damaging to U.S.

This Sunday, an estimated 20,000 people will converge on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

Obama's drone program dangerous for Americans

An impending investigation pertaining to the legality of drone strikes by Ben Emmerson, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, offers a vital opportunity to reflect upon the morality and efficacy of a technology that has become a hallmark of President Barack Obama's foreign policy. The expansion and entrenchment of this capability as a central component of U.S. military power under Obama's tenure has received far too little discussion, especially in light of disturbing findings regarding the extent of civilian casualties and psychological trauma resulting from this targeted killing program.

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