Reports - Robert Scheer's Columns | Truthdig http://www.truthdig.com/report/category/scheer/ Truthdig, a Web magazine that provides expert in-depth coverage of current affairs as well as a variety of thoughtful, provocative content assembled from a progressive point of view. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman. en editor@truthdig.com Copyright 2009 2009-11-04T07:00:58+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/report/category/scheer/ http://www.truthdig.com/images/rss_feed_promo.gif Truthdig logo Keeping Afghanistan Safe From Democracy http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091103_keeping_afghanistan_safe_from_democracy/ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091103_keeping_afghanistan_safe_from_democracy/ abdullah abdullah, afghanistan, al-qaida, civil war, democracy, election, fraud, hamid karzai, insurgency, lyndon johnson, matthew hoh, stanley mcchrystal, Robert Scheer's Columns McChrystal in Afghanistan

The most idiotic thing being said about America’s involvement in Afghanistan is that the best way to protect the 68,000 U.S. troops there now is by putting an additional 40,000 in harm’s way. 

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]]> 2009-11-04T07:00:58+00:00 Lieberman Twists the Knife http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091027_lieberman_twists_the_knife/ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091027_lieberman_twists_the_knife/ 911, connecticut, defense budget, filibuster, health care reform, joe lieberman, medicare, olympia snowe, public option, robert scheer, senate, social security, trigger, Robert Scheer's Columns Lieberman

Is there a more hypocritical figure in American politics than Joe Lieberman? The Connecticut senator declared Tuesday that he would support a filibuster of any health care reform bill that has a public option—even the version with the “trigger” compromise accepted by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe—because it might cost money.

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]]> 2009-10-28T06:17:15+00:00 Zooming In on the Year’s Biggest Hoax http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091021_zooming_in_on_the_years_biggest_hoax/ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091021_zooming_in_on_the_years_biggest_hoax/ aig, bailout, balloon boy, dick gephardt, goldman sachs, house financial services committee, robert rubin, tarp, timothy geithner, wolf blitzer, Robert Scheer's Columns Geithner

Who are these people? I am not referring to the pathetic parents of “Balloon Boy,” whose fake drama I have been unable to escape while on the treadmill this week, thanks to my gym’s insistence on tuning its flat-screen TVs to Wolf Blitzer’s nonstop self-parody.

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]]> 2009-10-21T06:45:15+00:00 Public Health Before Wall Street Wealth http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091013_public_health_before_wall_street_wealth/ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091013_public_health_before_wall_street_wealth/ aig, bailout, federal reserve, health care, health insurance, max baucus, olympia snowe, robert scheer, timothy geithner, wall street, Robert Scheer's Columns Geithner

There is an odd disconnect between the furious public debate over health care reform, with its emphasis on the cost of an increased government role, and the nonexistent discussion about the far more expensive and largely secretive government program to bail out Wall Street.

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]]> 2009-10-14T06:24:15+00:00 A War of Absurdity http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091007_a_war_of_absurdity/ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091007_a_war_of_absurdity/ afghanistan, al-qaida, cia, defense industry, drones, james jones, john mccain, robert scheer, taliban, terrorism, Robert Scheer's Columns Afghan landscape

There is no indication that any of the contending forces in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, are interested in bringing al-Qaida back. On the contrary, all the available evidence indicates that the Arab fighters are unwelcome and that it is their isolation from their former patrons that has led to their demise. 

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]]> 2009-10-07T07:36:07+00:00 Exorcising America’s Diplomatic Demons http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090929_exorcising_americas_diplomatic_demons/ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090929_exorcising_americas_diplomatic_demons/ al-qaida, china, communism, demonology, foreign policy, islamist, nixon, red scare, robert macnamara, robert scheer, terrorism, vietnam, Robert Scheer's Columns Obama at G-20 summit

Communism once was, as the Islamic terrorist threat is today, presented as an undifferentiated revolutionary impulse that could never be diplomatically accommodated without sacrificing our own security or, indeed, our freedom. The various communist nations and movements, like those currently led by a polyglot collection of Islamist radicals, were stripped of any complexity, be it in their national identity or ideology. 

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]]> 2009-09-30T06:14:50+00:00 Saving the Obama Revolution http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090923_saving_the_obama_revolution/ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090923_saving_the_obama_revolution/ afghanistan, barack obama, general, hillary rodham clinton, mcchrystal, pakistan, president, revolution, ronald reagan, taliban, Robert Scheer's Columns Obams

The Obama revolution, and there was the hope of one, might still succeed. But only if Barack Obama follows the model of the incredibly successful Reagan revolution and heeds the political base that made his presidency possible.

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]]> 2009-09-23T06:31:38+00:00 Obama’s Presidency Isn’t Too Big to Fail http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090916_obamas_presidency_isnt_too_big_to_fail/ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090916_obamas_presidency_isnt_too_big_to_fail/ bailout, banking, barack obama, federal reserve, goldman sachs, health care reform, henry paulson, insurance, president, robert scheer, Robert Scheer's Columns Obama

A president has only so much capital to expend, both in tax dollars and public tolerance, and Barack Obama is dangerously overdrawn. He has tried to have it all on three fronts, and his administration is in serious danger of going bankrupt.

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]]> 2009-09-16T05:25:46+00:00 A 9/11 Reality Check http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090908_a_9_11_reality_check/ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090908_a_9_11_reality_check/ 911, afghanistan, dick cheney, hiroshima, interrogation, japan, robert scheer, terrorism, vietnam, world war ii, Robert Scheer's Columns U.S. soldier in Afghanistan

What if eight years ago the World Trade Center had been leveled by a small nuclear bomb that took out most of lower Manhattan as well? How many millions of innocent civilians would we have killed in retaliation?

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]]> 2009-09-09T05:37:15+00:00 Obama’s Meaningless War http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090901_obamas_meaningless_war/ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090901_obamas_meaningless_war/ afghanistan, cia, lyndon johnson, pakistan, robert scheer, saudi arabia, taliban, vietnam, Robert Scheer's Columns troops in Afghanistan

True, he doesn’t seem a bit like Lyndon Johnson, but the way he’s headed on Afghanistan, Barack Obama is threatened with a quagmire that could bog down his presidency. LBJ also had a progressive agenda in mind, but it was soon overwhelmed by the cost and divisiveness engendered by a meaningless, and seemingly endless, war in Vietnam.

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