Tag: George W. Bush administration

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Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)

The Rise of Saddam Hussein

In 1968, the Ba’athists returned to power in Iraq after a relatively bloodless coup. President Arif was deposed and exiled along with his family to London. The fact that the coup was bloodless shows that Ba’athism had won Iraqi hearts and minds and was widely seen as legitimate. Saddam Hussein was still in the background at this time, and like Stalin, he focused on creating a security and intelligence service that was loyal to him. (more…)

Saddam Hussein was captured on December 13, 2003. Things have not gone well for Americans in the two decades since.

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Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)

It’s been 20 years since the United States military captured Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi dictator was captured by the American 4th Infantry Division along with commandos from a special forces unit, Task Force 121, at the end of a nationwide manhunt that lasted for eight months after his regime had been toppled. (more…)

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See also: Good Book, More of the Good Book, Doors & Bolts & Bars

I recently watched the 1966 movie The Bible: In the Beginning. It was the last of the big-budget movies with a cast of thousands and a plot centered on ancient history. In the 1950s, these sorts of films — The Robe (1953), The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben Hur (1959) — were big winners. The Bible, however, didn’t capture the magic of those earlier features. The lukewarm audience reception likewise helped to make The Bible the last of such epics. (more…)

John Tanton

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Reece Jones
White Borders: The History of Race and Immigration in the United States from Chinese Exclusion to the Border Wall
Boston: Beacon Press, 2022 (more…)

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Peter Brimelow
Alien Nation: Common Sense About America’s Immigration Disaster
New York: Random House, 1995

Is it really wise to allow the immigration of people who find it so difficult and painful to assimilate into the American majority? — Peter Brimelow

In retrospect, the years of the Clinton administration were baffling. On the surface, the Democratic Party’s insane-asylum wing appeared to be ascendant. All the while, under the surface, conservative ideas moved from political success to success. (more…)

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Gary Gerstle
The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: American and the World in the Free Market Era
New York: Oxford University Press, 2022

Professor Gary Gerstle teaches at Oxford University and has written several excellent books about America and its racial and social problems. One such book is American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century, which was first published in 2001 and was later updated with a few extra chapters describing Black Lives Matter terrorism and some quotes from the cast of non-whites in the Hamilton minstrel show who were mad about Trump being elected. (more…)

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This is an excerpt from my memoir The Xena Years, about life in the nineties. It seems relevant today.

I had just climbed out of the pool when the woman bowed towards Mecca. (more…)

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Ari Fleischer
Suppression, Deception, Snobbery, & Bias: Why the Press Gets So Much Wrong — & Just Doesn’t Care
New York: Broadside Books, 2022

Ari Fleischer was George W. Bush’s Press Secretary during the lead-up to the Iraq War. He was not involved in planning the war, but he did sell that (optional) conflict through his many press briefings in 2002 and 2003. (more…)

Phyllis Schlafly’s critique of the Republican Party changed its focus and direction.

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Phyllis Schlafly
A Choice Not an Echo
Alton, Ill.: Pere Marquette Press, 1964

Many of the greatest pioneers of Right-wing political thought in the United States are women. Right-leaning men are often too busy with their jobs and putting out the fires to be prophets. Female activists, for their part, have a remarkable ability to challenge and change the direction of institutions. One such woman was Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016). (more…)