Author: Daniel McAdams

The US-led war on Afghanistan has lasted some 15 years and cost well over a trillion dollars. Yet Afghanistan is in arguably worse shape than when the US set out to “liberate” it from the Taliban. In fact, the Taliban are conducting ever bolder strikes against targets of psychological significance such as the airport in Kandahar this week. The US war in Afghanistan is lost, but no one in Washington will admit it because it is too profitable to the military-industrial complex, and the admission would reveal the bankruptcy of the “regime change” and “nation-build” that is at the center of US foreign policy. Instead they will press on, taking with them the lives of many more war victims and untold resources. Today’s Liberty Report takes a look at the US slow-motion defeat in Afghanistan:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced recently that all military jobs, including the most dangerous combat roles, would be open to women starting next April. The announcement added new life to a lawsuit seeking to expand mandatory Selective Service registration to women as well as men who reach the age of 18. The military draft is a form of slavery. Seeking to extend it to women because one feels it is discriminatory if it applies only to men is a case of faulty logic. In a real threat to the United States, likely every able body would defend their homeland. A draft only seeks to add cannon fodder to the imperial foreign policy of the warmongering neocons. The problem is the foreign policy, not a lack of fighters to carry it out. More on women in combat and the draft in today’s Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

President Obama’s address to the nation last night urged Americans to not give in to fear, all the while he stoked fear of terrorist threats all around. He outlined four components to his strategy to fight terrorism that looked like what he had been doing all along, seemingly to no avail. He praised American exceptionalism. Then he said he wanted to take the guns from Americans on the government “no-fly” list — even though we know that due to government incompetence thousands are on the list with no ties to terrorism whatsoever. More on Obama’s sly propagandism on today’s Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

With the sunsetting of Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act last week, we were told that the NSA had stopped its bulk collection of the metadata of American citizens. In fact there are so many loopholes — including downright ignoring the law — that it is certain the massive NSA snooping on US citizens continues. There are Executive Orders authorizing it and sneaky moves to route our communications offshore to bypass US law. Today’s Liberty Report is joined by Ron Paul Institute Senior Fellow Adam Dick to discuss the “reform” of the PATRIOT Act:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain have returned to the scene of the crime – Iraq – where the war they demanded has left the country shattered into a million bits with ISIS there to take care of the rebuilding. These two “experts” are forever wrong in their every utterance and policy position – remember how angry McCain became when it was pointed out that he was meeting with terrorists in Syria and telling us they were moderates? – yet the slavish US mainstream media continues to defer to their rotten judgement. Back in Iraq over the weekend, the Senators again pushed the only policy they know – war – demanding a fresh supply of young American meat to be ground up in Iraq and Syria. Troops on the ground, they scream. Give us 20,000 to start! Today’s Liberty Report looks at the logical fallacy that doing more of what caused terrorism can defeat terrorism:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

Washington wants the rest of us to believe we are living in the most dangerous time in history. It is how they can cower us into accepting their “protection.” But they are wrong. They are hyping threats. In fact we have a great many things to be thankful for as Americans this Thanksgiving. Those of use working for peace and the prosperity it brings have more tools at our disposal than ever in history. We are empowered. Tune in to a special Thanksgiving Day edition of the Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.