Political Science Commons^™

October Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“No Refuge Here: Iraqis Flee, but Where?” by Joseph Huff-Hannon. Dissent. Summer 2007.

Would Iraqi Refugees Please Disappear, Richard A. Falk

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I am grateful to Joseph Huff-Hannon for drawing our attention vividly and movingly to the plight of Iraqi refugees, its magnitude and cruelty. There are more than two million Iraqi refugees, with an estimated 50,000 per month added to the total. Many are languishing in terrible conditions in such neighboring countries as Syria and Jordan. These states, neither of which are notable as places of refuge, lack the capabilities for humane treatment even if their governments were altruistically inclined. Many Iraqis cannot even find such refuge, and remain hapless nomads in search of a sanctuary country. The U.S. refusal to …

Will Refuge Continue To Be Elusive, Katherine Gockel

Human Rights & Human Welfare

According to U.N. estimates, if current trends continue, the number of Iraqi asylum seekers by year-end could reach between 40,000 to 50,000. The influx of Iraqis into states such as Syria and Jordan also threatens to be a destabilizing force in those countries. Therefore, it is unreasonable to expect these states to individually cope with migration flows of this magnitude.

Iraqi Resettlement: Why Congress Won't Act, Daniel J. Whelan

Human Rights & Human Welfare

After making an excellent case for the plight of Iraqi asylum seekers who have served as valuable allies to the United States in Iraq, Joseph Huff-Hannon’s article suggests that Congress should play a stronger role in developing a resettlement policy to allow Iraqis, who have been on “our side,” to come to the U.S. Given the current political climate on Iraq—and with Congressional Democrats desperate to score some kind of victory in its battle with the Bush White House—what exactly is holding them back?

Fleeing From Violence Versus Fleeing From Poverty, Michael Goodhart

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Nour al Khal worked as a translator for New York Times reporter Steven Vincent, who was murdered by Shiite militants in Iraq. Vincent’s widow has been trying to help al Khal (who was kidnapped and shot by the same group who killed Vincent) win asylum in the United States. So far political and bureaucratic obstacles have proven insurmountable.

Wars Against Civilians Are Unjust Wars, Richard A. Falk

Human Rights & Human Welfare

For those of us old enough to recall the anti-war testimony of Vietnam vets during the early 1970s, reading the chilling report by Hedges and Al-Arian on the attitudes of Iraq war vets is shocking, and yet not surprising. It is shocking because of the eyewitness confirmation of cruelty and lethal brutality on a regular basis in the interactions between the coalition army of occupation and Iraqi civilian society. Sadly, it is not shocking because of the nature of the violent resistance to occupation being encountered by American forces in Iraq, giving rise to a Vietnam-style mentality of counterinsurgency in …

Facing Up To The Truth, Susan E. Waltz

Human Rights & Human Welfare

American GIs who liberated Dachau from the Nazis in April 1945 exist in our collective memory as iconic representations of the American soldier-hero: competent and capable, disciplined, principled and fundamentally good. From their collective example, we expect American soldiers to reveal, report, and excoriate war crimes. This makes it difficult to acknowledge that Americans may also commit war crimes—and on a regular basis.

September Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness” by Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian. The Nation, July 30, 2007.

Occupational Hazard, Michael Goodhart

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“The Other War” describes how the patrols, supply convoys, checkpoints, raids, and arrests, which make up the daily routines of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, sometimes involve degrading and abusive treatment of Iraqi civilians. Through interviews with some of those soldiers, the article portrays the everyday tragedy of the Iraq war and demonstrates how the very policies used to “secure” the country are creating greater insecurity and sparking Iraqi resentment of the occupation. The authors’ main point is that such abuses are inevitable under what they call “misguided and brutal colonial wars and occupations” like Iraq, “the French occupation of Algeria… …

Bad Apples Or Bad Policies?, Daniel J. Whelan

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In a scene from the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters, the haughty and cantankerous character Frederick (Max von Sydow) is telling his girlfriend (Barbara Hershey) how he spent the evening flipping through channels on television. Ever the arrogant social critic, Frederick remarks,

You missed a very dull TV show on Auschwitz. More gruesome film clips. And more puzzled intellectuals declaring their mystification over the systematic murder of millions. The reason they can never answer the question: “How could it possibly happen?” is that it’s the wrong question. Given what people are, the question is: “Why doesn't it happen …

The Role Of The Military, General William Nash, Jeffrey W. Taliaferro, Gwyn Prins

New England Journal of Public Policy

Presents comments (from the EPIIC Symposium at Tufts University, February 2004) on the issue concerning the role of the U.S. military on their citizens; Concern on defining victory in the war on terror; Discussion on the relationship between the political objectives of the U.S. grand strategy and how they employ a military instrument; Views on the role of the military force.

Africa And The War On Terror, Eddy Maloka

New England Journal of Public Policy

The U.S. war on terror is now in its third year, and the bombings in Afghanistan and Iraq are far from over. Many analysts and policy thing-tanks have reflected on the impact of this war on Africa; some have put emphasis on the economy, development aid, security questions, and others on implications for U.S. foreign policy. The intention of this piece is to introduce new elements to the reflection.

From Dictatorship And War To Democracy: Alternative Future For The Drc, Claude Kambuya Kabemba

New England Journal of Public Policy

With a transitional government in place, peace is now a possibility in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Policy options are being considered to sustain the peace and start the work of building a Congolese state that would not repeat the failings of the past. There is hope that the transitional period will produce democratic elections and subsequently a legitimate government, which would start to shake the view of the DRC as the "heart of darkness." There are two main obstacles to state-building in the DRC: lack of consensus on governance and illegal exploitation of resources. The two are …

We Were Allies Once: Lessons Of D Day, 1944, Nigel Hamilton

New England Journal of Public Policy

Nigel Hamilton swivels the century around the pivot of the massive cooperation and collaboration between the United States and its allies during World War II. In the early years, European and British troops suffered a series of discouraging defeats by the Nazis, and then when the United States entered the war the great collaboration among the allies was instrumental in achieving victory in Europe. This joint effort of nations continued for a time with such institutions as the UN and NATO and other international bodies. The war in Iraq ruptured the alliance. American unilateralism has distinguished most of the debacle …

The Role Of The United Nations In A Unipolar World, Brian Urquart, Michael Glennon

New England Journal of Public Policy

Presents comments on issues concerning the role of the United Nations in a unipolar world system. Discussion on the issue concerning the failure of the Security Council to reach unanimity on the occupation of Iraq and the regime change; Views on preventive war; Information on several problems encountered by the UN wherein their actions are considered irrelevant. From the EPIIC Symposium at Tufts University, February 2004.

Weapons Of Mass Destruction & Public International Law, Michael Donlan

New England Journal of Public Policy

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) into the hands of rogue dictators and terrorists has brought a sea change in strategic international relations, and is accelerating the necessity of public international law to protect humanity. Traditional balances of power have little force left to deter WMD. Major powers must seriously revamp and proactively exploit public international law, and, to that end, bolster multilateral institutions to marshal an action plan to leash this unacceptable risk. Leadership is needed on three levels: 1) promote a new mission for public international law to address WMD; 2) muster a broad-based coalition of …

The Pulse Of War: Writing A Response, Kevin Bowen, Tony Aiello, Chris Agee, Almira El-Zein, Fred Marchant, Carolyn Forché, Fanny Howe

New England Journal of Public Policy

Introduction and a series of articles and poetry concerning the war on terror being imposed by the U.S., and more.

Writes Kevin Bowen:

One year into the war in Iraq, the ugliness of the undertaking has become more and more inescapable. If anything, the experience has reaffirmed a few simple facts that deserve reiteration. There is no such thing as an easily winnable war. There is no such thing as a humane war. In every war, long after the fighting ends, peace will remain elusive, and memories of suffering will endure through generations.

Of course we knew all this before. …

Truth Under Fire: The War And The Media, Gary S. Messinger

New England Journal of Public Policy

Over the last hundred years, the relationship between war and mass communication has become increasingly elaborate. Governments and private-sector organizations have found more and more ways to use the media in wartime, and the range of available technologies has expanded to include print, film, radio, television, and the Internet. The system that exists today, at the start of the twenty-first century, is the product of many twists and turns over the decades: an accretion of some strategies for wartime use of mass communication and a rejection of others. An understanding of this evolution is a starting point for crafting policies …

Trends. The United States, Israel, And Parallelism In Counterterrorist Response, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses and evaluates United States reactions to terrorist attacks, and US support for Israel in a political psychological context.

Trends. A Casualty Of War: Suicide As A Response To An American-Led Invasion Of Iraq, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the political psychology of suicide as protest.

Ibpp Research Associates: Macedonia, Anonymous Non-Native English Speaker In Macedonia

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses what the anonymous non-native English-speaking author considers militant Albanian extremism.

The Eritrea-Ethiopia War: How Helpful Are Psychological Theories Of Warfare?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article considers common psychological theories of warfare in light of the current Eritrea- Ethiopia war.

Monitoring Elections In El Salvador And Nicaragua, Jack Spence

New England Journal of Public Policy

I observed the February 1990 elections in Nicaragua as a member of both the Latin American Studies Association observation team and that of Hemisphere Initiatives, a group with which I have worked. In El Salvador I headed the Hemisphere Initiatives team. I visited Nicaragua five times during the electoral period, and for El Salvador, for once my academic calendar coincided with Salvadoran history. A sabbatical in the last academic year allowed me to be there during the electoral period.

I should say by way of comparison with Fred Gamst's presentation about Ethiopia that Nicaragua and El Salvador are ethnically and …