Antiwar.com Blog

Antiwar Radio: Bert Sacks

Retired engineer Bert Sacks discusses his case before the U.S. Supreme Court: sticking up for innocent Iraqi kids killed by the UN/U.S./UK blockade of 1990-2003, the different ways the law protects politicians for the mass murders they commit and the danger of dehumanizing even the worst people.

MP3 here.

After the first Gulf War in 1991 Bert Sacks read a New York Times front-page story about famine and epidemic in Iraq “unless massive life-supporting aid was given.” He read in that same story that “by making life uncomfortable for the Iraqi people [sanctions] will soon encourage them to remove President Saddam Hussein from power.” Sacks thought something was terribly wrong. When he read a 1992 New England Journal of Medicine report that 46,900 Iraqi kids had died in just the first 8 months of 1991, he knew that something was terribly wrong. Since then he’s worked to educate about this issue.

The #2 Homeland Security official for Prince George’s County, Maryland recently shot two furniture delivery guys who brought a new bed to his house.  The headboard had a scratch, according to local news reports.  The shooter is also a long -term employee of the Prince George’s County Police Department.  This police department has long had one of the worst records in the nation for gunning down innocent civilians.  In the 1990s, the P.G. Police killed and maimed more unarmed people than the Unabomber and the Aryan Nation combined. 

I have reposted a piece on my blog that I did for Playboy in 2001 on how some government employees acquire a right to shoot others with impunity.    I have never understood why terrorists are demonized while people wearing uniforms who kill innocent civilians almost always receive endless benefits of the doubts.

Comments etc. welcome at my blog here.

Antiwar Radio: Ron Paul

Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) discusses the creation of his new presidential exploratory committee, his belief in individual liberty and his 9-year congressional opposition to the war in Iraq and to the impending war with Iran.

MP3 here.

Congressman Ron Paul of Texas enjoys a national reputation as the premier advocate for liberty in politics today. Dr. Paul is the leading spokesman in Washington for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. He is known among both his colleagues in Congress and his constituents for his consistent voting record in the House of Representatives: Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution. In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the “one exception to the Gang of 535” on Capitol Hill.

Ron Paul was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Gettysburg College and the Duke University School of Medicine, before proudly serving as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s. He and his wife Carol moved to Texas in 1968, where he began his medical practice in Brazoria County. As a specialist in obstetrics/gynecology, Dr. Paul has delivered more than 4,000 babies. He and Carol, who reside in Surfside Beach, Texas, are the proud parents of five children and have seventeen grandchildren.

While serving in Congress during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dr. Paul’s limited-government ideals were not popular in Washington. He served on the House Banking committee, where he was a strong advocate for sound monetary policy and an outspoken critic of the Federal Reserve’s inflationary measures. He also was a key member of the Gold Commission, advocating a return to a gold standard for our currency. He was an unwavering advocate of pro-life and pro-family values. Dr. Paul consistently voted to lower or abolish federal taxes, spending, and regulation, and used his House seat to actively promote the return of government to its proper constitutional levels. In 1984, he voluntarily relinquished his House seat and returned to his medical practice.

Dr. Paul returned to Congress in 1997 to represent the 14th Congressional district of Texas. He serves on the House Financial Services Committee, the International Relations committee, and the Joint Economic Committee. On the Financial Services Committee, Rep. Paul serves as the vice-chairman of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee. He continues to advocate a dramatic reduction in the size of the federal government and a return to constitutional principles.

Dr. Paul is the author of several books, including Challenge to Liberty; The Case for Gold; and A Republic, If You Can Keep It. He has been a distinguished counselor to the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and is widely quoted by scholars and writers in the fields of monetary policy, banking, and political economy. He has received many awards and honors during his career in Congress, from organizations such as the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, the Council for a Competitive Economy, Young Americans for Freedom, and countless others.

Antiwar Radio: Francis Boyle

Professor Francis Boyle discusses the War Powers resolution, the Congress’s refusal to limit the power of the President, the “surge” of American soldiers into Iraq, his hope for the impeachment and removal from power of the Bush/Cheney regime prospects for war with Iran, and his acquaintance with the Chicago Straussians.

MP3 here.

A scholar in the areas of international law and human rights, Professor Boyle received a J.D. degree magna cum laude and A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from Harvard University. Prior to joining the faculty at the College of Law, he was a teaching fellow at Harvard and an associate at its Center for International Affairs. He also practiced tax and international tax with Bingham, Dana & Gould in Boston.

He has written and lectured extensively in the United States and abroad on the relationship between international law and politics. His eighth book, Destroying World Order, was recently published by Clarity Press. An earlier book, Defending Civil Resistance Under International Law, has been used successfully in numerous foreign policy protest trials. In the September 2000 issue of the prestigious The International History Review, Professor Boyle’s Foundations of World Order: The Legalist Approach to International Relations (1898-1922) was proclaimed as “a major contribution to this reinterrogation of the past” and “required reading for historians, political scientists, international relations specialists, and policy-makers.” That book was translated into Korean and published in Korea in 2003 by Pakyoungsa Press.

As an internationally recognized expert, Professor Boyle serves as counsel for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) currently pending before the International Court of Justice. He also represents two associations of citizens within the country and has been instrumental in developing the indictment against Slobodan Milosevic for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Professor Boyle is Attorney of Record for the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, conducting its legal affairs on a worldwide basis. Over his career, he has represented national and international bodies including the Blackfoot Nation (Canada) and the Lakota Nation, as well as numerous individual death penalty and human rights cases. He has advised numerous international bodies in the areas of human rights, war crimes and genocide, nuclear policy, and bio-warfare.