Congratulations, Secret Service! No brawls with whores during Obama’s whistle-stop in Kabul. OK, it wasn’t an overnight visit… * It was inspiring to hear Obama invoking the usual idealism during his spiel from Bagram Air Base. The event was nicely managed insofar as there were no blood-piercing screams during his speech from detainees being tortured. […]
Tag Archives | Afghanistan
Karzai Solves Mystery of Afghan Corruption
Afghan frontman Hamid Karzai announced this past weekend that foreigners are to blame for the rampant corruption his country. It is true that foreign aid has helped bring out the worst in many Afghan wheeler-dealers. But Karzai and his cronies would likely be looting regardless of whether Uncle Sam air-dropped billions onto his land. New […]
Dying to Corrupt Afghanistan
from the Future of Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Daily (posted online today) Dying to Corrupt Afghanistan by James Bovard American soldiers are dying so that Afghan politicians can continue looting U.S. tax dollars. Foreign aid has long been notorious for creating kleptocracies — governments of thieves. The $50+ billion foreign aid that the United States has […]
MP3 of Today’s Interview with Ron Smith on WBAL
It’s always fun to raise hell with Ron Smith in Baltimore. Ron had me on his WBAL show today and we had a good time flogging foreign aid and the Afghan debacle. Ron is one of the best informed talk show hosts out there, and it was neat to see what his memory bank pulled […]
Barron’s: The Anti-Corruption Charade (full text)
Barron’s, June 6, 2011 The Anti-Corruption Charade by James Bovard In much of the world, governing is a synonym for looting. Unfortunately, American and European foreign aid has a long history of accelerating the looting. Foreign aid created a generation of kleptocracies—governments of thieves—in Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. Mercedes-Benz automobiles became so popular […]
Your Tax Dollars at Work and Play
Washington Times, April 15, 2011 Uncle Sam’s big plans for your hard-earned tax dollars by James Bovard Congratulations – your tax payment is probably your biggest purchase of the year. The federal tax burden now amounts to more than $20,000 per household, according to Internal Revenue Service data. Your contribution to the Treasury coffers will […]
Obama’s Torture Regime?
Spencer Ackerman of Wired has an excellent piece today on the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command’s secret jails in Afghanistan. Ackerman notes: Human rights groups have been sounding the alarm about these detention centers since 2009. Detainees who claim to have gone through the sites have told them about abuses inside the so-called “Black Jails” […]