Americans demand Iraqi justice

By Justin Palmer / May 7, 2004

When I first saw the now-infamous pictures of our soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners of war at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, my initial reaction was downright Churchillian: “Never, in the field of human conflict, was so much good carried out by so many, negated by so few.” However, the more I thought about it,...

John Kerry hasn’t won the presidency yet

By Justin Palmer / March 5, 2004

With Senator John Kerry’s sweep last Tuesday, the battle for the Democratic nomination has finally come to an end. After vanquishing his rivals one by one, Senator Kerry is now guaranteed to win the Democratic nomination and will face President Bush in November. Though many pundits are predicting one of the closest and nastiest campaigns...

Bombing sheds light on Turkey’s ties to the West

By Justin Palmer / December 2, 2003

Editor’s note: This article was originally submitted Monday, November 24 after the bombing in Turkey. Continuing their worldwide campaign against humanity, Al Qaeda bombers chose to mark the last week of Ramadan with another attack in the Turkish capital of Istanbul. This time, rather than targeting Jews, they attacked both the British consulate and the...

A day of beer, guns, and no Kant

By Justin Palmer / October 16, 2003

“Food, Gas, and Beer” read a large sign next to the backcountry road. Flanking the road were two long lines of cars, parking lots being a rarity in this part of Kentucky. I had come to this desolate area to participate in the semi-annual Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot. Alas, I was lost and didn’t...

Military ban on campus would discriminate

By Justin Palmer / October 6, 2003

Is there discrimination at our university? According to the Chicago Maroon, there is whenever recruiters from the U.S. military come to campus. In an editorial published last Friday, this paper used an argument over federal funding to attack the military for its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and hinted that it should be banned from...

U of C Greeks; no, not Plato

By Justin Palmer / June 5, 2003

On campus, when the word “Greek” is used, most people think of the University’s acclaimed Classics Program. But there’s another meaning to the word “Greek” for a number of us students that I’d like to address in this column. That’s the Greek life found in the University’s fraternities and sororities. Joining a fraternity, in my...

Iraqi Relief Fundraiser

By Justin Palmer / May 5, 2003

Is it better to be feared or loved? Machiavelli’s question has been resonating throughout our policy towards the Middle East for the last two decades. Under Reagan and Bush I, fear seemed to be the preferred way of doing business; under Clinton, it was being loved. Unfortunately, winning the war on terrorism will require more...

Remembering Islam’s role in Iraq

By Justin Palmer / April 24, 2003

Now that we have won the war in Iraq we have to win the peace. This week’s outbreak of anti-American protests, from both within Iraq and without, shows that we must move faster than we thought in setting up a new Iraqi government. That requires recognizing some basic facts about the situation. The first is...

A reflection on war’s results

By Justin Palmer / April 14, 2003

?Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival,? wrote Sir Winston Churchill. And it is victory that we have achieved in Iraq, liberating a once-proud nation from the chains of tyranny and showing the Muslim world that...

Mourning space exploration

By Justin Palmer / February 4, 2003

“If we die, we want people to accept it. We’re in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.” When astronaut Gus Grissom made this remark more than 30 years ago, he had no idea...

Homeland defense demands intelligence sharing

By Justin Palmer / December 3, 2002

Following the September 11 attacks of last year, many of our officials realized that we had–in a twist on an old phrase–too many Indians and not enough chiefs. We had separate agencies for border control, disaster relief, immigration, and security, with little ability to coordinate their actions. Last week President Bush finally signed a bill...

Diplomacy… and other means

By Justin Palmer / November 22, 2002

Many people have mapped out how we should fight the war on terrorism, but few have actually thought about what a victory by the West would end in. Al Qaeda’s loose structure means that there will probably be no official end to the war, but rather a situation similar to World War II, in which...

Diplomacy… and other means

By Justin Palmer / November 5, 2002

“Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart and that is the weakest of faith.” —the Prophet Muhammad With the Muslim holiday of...

Focus on nuclear proliferation

By Justin Palmer / October 21, 2002

Talk about being between Iraq and a hard place. After a year of arguing for war against Saddam, I’ve now had people ask me that if striking Iraq is so urgent, why should we not hit North Korea first? My friend Ben observed, “Saddam may be nuts, but he’s wily and has an instinct for...

Worry in the Washington Area

By Justin Palmer / October 14, 2002

As most of my friends will tell you, I have a divine death wish. That is, I like to go to places that the Divine Hand of Providence usually plans on smiting in some way. Normally I’m able to stay one step ahead of catastrophe, leaving San Francisco the day before an earthquake, and driving...

Islam is more than the Koran

By Justin Palmer / August 15, 2002

In the last few weeks, a debate of Biblical (or Koranic) proportions has been shaping up in the state of North Carolina. The source is the decision at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to require its incoming freshman class to read a book called Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations as part...

Time to end the bombing

By Justin Palmer / July 25, 2002

It seems that we may have won the war in Afghanistan only to lose the peace. This shouldn’t surprise any of us. Afghanistan has always been relatively easy to conquer, but it has proven nearly impossible to govern. The Soviets overran the country in just four days but were bogged down there for a decade....

To precisely define terrorism

By Justin Palmer / May 9, 2002

By Justin Palmer and Benjamin Recchie Viewpoints Staff On September 6, 1970, a group of Palestinian radicals decided to attempt the impossible. For several years, they had attempted to liberate the West Bank by launching attacks into Israel proper. Now they would draw attention to their cause by threatening people who were not citizens of...

Saddam: let’s number his days

By Justin Palmer / March 1, 2002

Iraq seems to be in the news again. Unfortunately, even though the Bush administration has publicly declared its intention to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, recent statements from expert military analysts like Eliot Cohen seem to indicate that because of the need to replace ordinance expended in the Afghan campaign, military action against Iraq could...

A Republican primary report

By Justin Palmer / February 19, 2002

Even though it is still one month away, the Illinois state gubernatorial primary is already beginning to look like a foregone conclusion, at least on the Republican side. Both parties have been galvanized by incumbent Governor George Ryan’s decision not to seek a second term, and both primaries promise to be competitive. Running for the...

A day that will live in infamy

By Justin Palmer / September 27, 2001

“I fear that all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” This memorable line was uttered by Japanese Admiral Isoruko Yamamoto hours after his navy attacked Pearl Harbor. Sixty years later, the United States has been attacked by surprise by an enemy no less intent on...