Washington Affairs

14 April 2003


Iraqi Campaign Won't Revolutionize Warfare
As military campaigns go, the Anglo-Australian-Polish-American assault on Iraq was mercifully quick, and dreadfully one-sided. Arm-chair generals are already detailing on cable TV the results and suggesting that it has forever changed the way war is fought. At the margins, they could be right, but the fact of the matter is that a vastly superior military beat a technologically inferior one using strategies and tactics as old as Field Marshal Rommel if not older. There ain't no revolution. Click here to read more.

Arab Americans -- The Unused Power
The day that Baghdad fell to Tommy Franks, successor to Alexander of Macedon, there were celebrations in America. The most interesting one was in the town of Deerborn, Michigan, where the largest population of Arabs and Americans of Arab descent live. While they danced in the streets and waved the stars and stripes, one could not help thinking that Washington needs these people now more than ever. Click here for more.

Tort Reform On the Way, Maybe
After baseball, the American pastime is litigation. In part, this is because Americans lack the centuries of common customs that many cultures have for conflict resolution. However, it is also partially due to the legal system in the US that has allowed punitive damages, those over and above actual economic losses suffered, to metastasize. Punishment should not enrich the other side. Click here to read on.