Entries by Frank Smyth

OK, It’s a Smoking Gun, but for Whom?

Top administration officials tried to censor outlets like Al Jazeera. But, instead of enhancing our security, these efforts have only undermined the best evidence we now have against our principal enemy.

Infallible Nation?

Why would Eritrea keep secret something that seemed to be in their national interest to publicize? One reason is that their leaders were too proud to admit that some of their own men including officers had been killed.

Drug War Blues

Both the PBS series and the NPR panel also present a number of former American drug war veterans who have since changed their own views who said that U.S. efforts in the “war on drugs” are falling short.

No Passage

The lesson of El Salvador was that the guerrillas could not be wiped out, and that in the end the United States needed to pressure America’s own allies in the Salvadoran military to reach a peace settlement.

Africa’s Inexplicable Horn

Like elsewhere in Africa, Western efforts on the African Horn come too little too late. Even if the U.N. security council were to now impose an arms embargo, it could only help lessen the intensity of the next round of fighting