The American Enterprise articles from December 2003

The American Enterprise archives from December 2003

New friends for old.(Bird's Eye)
December 1, 2003... My first weeks back in the U.S. after spending a month and a half in the middle of a desert war this spring as an embedded journalist were an adjustment period. I expected that. But what surprised me most in the days after I returned was the...

Sidelights.
December 1, 2003... A group of Egyptian scholars plans to sue world Jewry for stealing gold, jewelry, and other items when Jews fled Egypt during the Exodus over 5,000 years ago. One of the terrorists involved in last year's Bali nightclub bombing was quoted in...

Baghdad's bohemians betrayed.(Scan)
December 1, 2003... Anyone who doubts the intensity of support felt by many Baghdad residents for the liberation of their country should come to the Hewar Gallery just north of the city's center. Here, in this combination exhibition space, teahouse, and gossip...

California earthquake.(Scan)
December 1, 2003... The resounding victory of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the equally breathtaking defeat of Governor Davis and the Democratic Party, mark a potential turning point, not only for California but also for urbanized, coastal America. In one evening, a...

On duty.
December 1, 2003... Few people know that the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery has been patrolled continuously by its honor guard since 1930--and we mean 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Recently, when Washington emptied out to avoid the flying...

Legal docs for illegals.(Scan)
December 1, 2003... In a desperate attempt to curry favor with special interests and avoid paying his piper, Gray Davis signed a bill on September 6 that made it easy for illegal aliens to obtain California drivers licenses. The bill allows illegal aliens to use...

Progress ignored.(Scan)
December 1, 2003... A host of political and media critics claims that U.S. troops and administrators are "bogged down" in Iraq. Our own observations from Iraq during the war, plus recent polling there by TAE and other organizations (see this issue's feature...

Balance wanted.
December 1, 2003... Congressman Jim Marshall, a Georgia Democrat, Vietnam veterna, and member of the House Armed Service Committee, returned from Iraq recently and warned that "the news media are hurting our chances" of success in the country. "They are dwelling...

We can afford it.(Scan)
December 1, 2003... "This may not be Vietnam, but boy it sure smells like it. And every time I see these bills coming down for the money, it's costing like Vietnam too." So said Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin on the Senate floor recently. To pay and supply U.S. and...

Happy Thanksgiving.(Poem)
December 1, 2003... In the spring and summer I'll smell the fresh, clean air and wave my arms all around just so I can smell it even more here in the U.S.A. When autumn comes, I'll make a big pile of colorful leaves, and then...

The value of free trade.(Scan)
December 1, 2003... As Americans grow frustrated with trade manipulations by parties ranging from Chinese manufacturers to European farmers, the perennial temptation to erect protectionist walls is on the rise once again. The Washington-based Consumers for...

Spending for politics.(Indicators)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... It appears that the Presidential race of 2004 could end up costing as much as $400-500 million, a figure that has caused much harrumphing among some pundits. While surely a great deal of money, that is an unbelievably small sum for an activity...

Take stocks in America.(Indicators)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... During the last decade, the U.S. stock market performed better than the markets in most other nations. And during the economic contraction of the last three years, U.S. markets haven't been battered nearly as badly as elsewhere. ...

Spending for war.(Indicators)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... George W. Bush's spending to stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan has raised the hackles of some commentators, who argue that the spending could bankrupt the country. As a percentage of our nation's total economic output, however, today's war on...

Thomas Barnett: a warfighting specialist argues that globalization, far from being a problem, is actually the best cure for poverty, oppression, war, and--ultimately--terror.("Live" with TAE)(Interview)
December 1, 2003... As an adviser to the Secretary of Defense for 20 months following the September 11 attacks, Naval War College professor Thomas Barnett helped draw up our government's plans for prosecuting the War on Terror. His primary insight was to...

Europe's anti-American obsession.
December 1, 2003... What picture of American society is likely to be imprinted on the consciousness of average Europeans? Given what they read or hear every day from intellectuals and politicians, they can hardly have any choice in the unpleasant particulars,...

The first scientific poll of current Iraqi public opinion.
December 1, 2003... commissioned and written by The American Enterprise conducted August 3-19, 2003 by Zogby International in four cities in Iraq for more detailed results and cross-tabulations go to: www.TAEmag.com/issues/articleID.17694/article_detail.asp. ...

We're not in Kansas anymore!(What Next In Iraq?)
December 1, 2003... After six weeks of delays and legitimate fear, we sent 17 Iraqi men and women, with four Lebanese supervisors, into Iraq to poll 600 people about the future, the American presence, and the kind of government they preferred. The process was as...

What Iraqis really think.(What Next In Iraq?)
December 1, 2003... In Iraq, as in all countries, there are extremists, apathetic people, optimists, individuals with conflicted views, and a large body in the middle of most questions. The most basic thing I take from TAE's new poll findings is that Iraq is much...

Sailing on the right course.(What Next In Iraq?)
December 1, 2003... Is it possible to "transform" the politics of Iraq--and the greater Middle East--to make them more democratic? President Bush has long believed it is. His January 2002 State of the Union address is best remembered for the "Axis of Evil" but it...

The Iraqis our elites don't know.(What's Next in Iraq?)
December 1, 2003... Inundated as we are by non-stop negative coverage, it's hard to believe there is a positive story to tell in Iraq. Our papers and screens are filled with roadside bombs, slain soldiers, and occasional swarthy, gesticulating Iraqis. Those...

Second thoughts on success.(What's Next in Iraq?)
December 1, 2003... Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on September 14, Vice President Cheney applauded the TAE poll for having revealed "very positive news... with respect to [Iraqi] attitudes of what Americans have done." It is not at all clear from which of...

Grounds for hope.(What's Next in Iraq?)
December 1, 2003... The TAE survey is not a slam-dunk, but it does give grounds for hope. Young people are more optimistic than their elders. That bodes well for the future. Iraqis want to work things out for themselves; that is the native impulse behind democracy...

Still learning to be free.(What's Next in Iraq?)
December 1, 2003... The American Enterprise has taken a bold step in carrying out a public opinion poll in a country in which, until recently, only one opinion mattered--Saddam Hussein's. The poll offers significant findings which augur favorably for the...

Give Iraq to the Iraqis.(What's Next in Iraq?)
December 1, 2003... The TAE poll of Iraqi public opinion reinforces what a number of us have been arguing for years. There is, not surprisingly, only a very narrow base of support in Iraq for the murdering, raping, and looting dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Most...

Prepare for trouble, take risks for success.(What's Next in Iraq?)
December 1, 2003... It is still far from clear what kind of opposition the United States is confronting in Iraq. Neither the Pentagon nor the Central Intelligence Agency have an accurate picture of the enemy. They know that foreign Sunni jihadists are crossing the...

Freedom is the right cause.(What's Next in Iraq?)
December 1, 2003... If one concept has guided the Bush administration since September 11, it is that the Middle East as a whole is so dangerous because abysmal tyranny prevails and freedom languishes. While undertaken partly for self-defense, the war in Iraq is...

Only U.S. strength can defeat Islamism: the politics of honor and humiliation in the Middle East.
December 1, 2003... Military commanders from Julius Caesar to Norman Schwarzkopf have paid as much attention to the group psychology of their opponents as to the quality and quantity of their arms. National character and shared temperament, after all, bear...

No U.N. in Iraq.(Goodbye to the U.N.)
December 1, 2003... After doing everything in their power to block the removal of Saddam Hussein, United Nations head Kofi Annan and countries in the obstructionist Security Council are now plotting to give a "central role" to the U.N. in post-war Iraq. Critics of...

Coming UN-done.(Goodbye to the U.N.)
December 1, 2003... The United Nations spent most of its existence between 1953 and 1990 in a virtual coma. Then, on the eve of the first Gulf War its members came together to isolate Saddam Hussein and roll back his invasion of Kuwait. But 12 years later,...

Behind the human rights mask.(Goodbye to the U.N.)
December 1, 2003... Readers of The American, Enterprise may have been a little surprised when the United Nations Human Rights Commission failed to pass a resolution condemning Cuba at its 59th annual session in Geneva last March and April. After all, the Castro...

Embracing Harriet.(In real life: first-person America)
December 1, 2003... "But what do at-home mothers actually do?"--She Works/He Works: How Two-Income Families are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off DANVILLE, CALIFORNIA--As I perused the library shelves, She Works/He Works dared me to slide it into my...

Sell globally, tax locally.(Enterprising: business as an act of creation)
December 1, 2003... The reauthorization of the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) this fall will again reignite the acrimonious debate over Internet sales taxes. A majority of states are asking Congress to extend their tax collection authority to Internet and catalog...

Alabamans protect the GOP brand.(Politico)
December 1, 2003... On September 9, Alabama voters decided by 68 percent to 32 percent against a constitutional amendment that would have raised state taxes by $1.2 billion each and every year. In so doing, they highlighted two trends in the Republican Party. ...

The U.S. needs more effort on P.R.(Forward Observer)
December 1, 2003... Over the past year, "the bottom has fallen out of Arab and Muslim support for the United States," the director of the Pew Research Center said recently. In Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world and a reputation...

King: queen and tyrant?(Flashback)
December 1, 2003... Vice President William Rufus King of Alabama may have been a "prim, wig-topped mediocrity," as historian Roy F. Nichols judged him, but King was also about as flaming a queen as the 1840s would allow. As Steve Tally wrote in his popular account...

Clint Eastwood's second life.(Now Playing)
December 1, 2003... By all accounts, Clint Eastwood should have long since ridden into the sunset. His career began as a minor contract player for Universal Pictures in 1955 and went on to blossom in violent genre pictures: spaghetti Westerns that first...

The big fix.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... The 2% Solution: Fixing America's Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love By Matthew Miller Public Affairs, 320 pages, $26 Imagine if one of the Democratic Presidential hopefuls claimed he could return the federal budget to...

Teachers vs. education.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... The Worm in the Apple: How the Teacher Unions Are Destroying American Education By Peter Brimelow HarperCollins, 320 pages, $24.95 America leads the world in spending on public education, yet our students perform dismally. Financial...

Islam's other holy books.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... Understanding the Hadith: The Sacred Traditions of Islam By Ram Swarup Prometheus Books, 258 pages, $22 Nineteenth-century French scholar Ernest Renan wrote that, unlike the founders of other world religions, Mohammed "was born in full...

Hype makes fight.
December 1, 2003... The big news in Port St. Lucie, Florida a few Sundays back was that a 70-year-old woman tossed a knife she had been using to cut meatloaf at her husband--because he opted to sit in front of the TV watching football instead of preparing for...

Peaceniks profiled.(Politics)
December 1, 2003... James Q. Wilson and Karlyn Bowman, "Defining the 'Peace Party,'" The Public Interest, Fall 2003 (thepublicinterest.com) Before U.S. troops even entered Iraq, about 80 percent of Americans either supported or lacked a strong opinion about...

Neo whats?(Politics)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Irving Kristol, "The Neoconservative Persuasion," AEI on the Issues, AEI, September 2003 (aei.org) In recent months, media commentators and politicians alike have talked about neoconservatism at great length while only rarely bothering to...

Crooks get harder.(Society)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Timothy Hughes and Doris James Wilson, "Reentry Trends in the United States," Bureau of Justice Statistics, August 20, 2003 (ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs) The United States imprisons a greater percentage of its population than any other large Western...

Progress on missile defense.(National Security)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Michael Sirak, "U.S. Pushes Ahead with Homeland Missile Shield," Janes Defense Weekly, August 27, 2003 (jdw.janes.com) The United States military is well on its way to developing a system to protect the homeland from ballistic missile...

Clearing the air.(Science And Environment)
December 1, 2003... Steven Hayward, "Making Sense of 'New Source Review,'" AEI Environmental Policy Outlook, AEI, July 2003 (aei.org) Since the Clean Air Act went into effect in the 1970s, America's air has become significantly cleaner. A variety of...

False climate consensus.(Science And Environment)
December 1, 2003... Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas, "New Perspectives in Climate Science: What the EPA Isn't Telling Us," The Independent Institute, Independent Policy Report (independent.org) A new report from the Independent Institute by Willie Soon and...

Undemocratic Arabia.(Other Countries)
December 1, 2003... Alfred Stepan and Graeme Robertson, "An 'Arab' More Than Muslim Electoral Gap," The Journal of Democracy, Volume 14, Number 3 (journalofdemocracy.org) As the war on terror has brought the United States into closer engagement with the...

Iraq: establishing the peace.(Opinion Pulse)
December 1, 2003... In April, 84 percent of those surveyed by Gallup said that establishing a new government in Iraq would be more difficult than winning the war. Although Americans are generally wary of foreign entanglements, they believe that we have a...

How Americans see themselves in the world.(Opinion Pulse)
December 1, 2003... For half a century, Americans have been telling pollsters that the United States should take an active part in foreign affairs. They prefer to work with our allies when that is possible. But they do draw some lines. Americans don't approve of...

A democratic imperative?(Opinion Pulse)
December 1, 2003... Below, we look at responses from people in selected countries about the importance of some key democratic concepts, and then at the status of those concepts in their countries. Another question asks people whether democracy is a Western way of...

The mail.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... Kevin Hassett got the state budget mess exactly right in "Guess Who's To Blame?" (October/November). Minnesota's revenue has reportedly increased 6 percent this year, but the politicians are crying about the worst deficit in history because...

Last gasp.
December 1, 2003... "We were just about to shut this department down, but somehow, someone got it designated as a wetland, and now our hands are tied!" [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I don't want to work what are my options?" [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I...