The Whole Truth

Charles Krauthammer

• Pushing the envelope, NSA-style June 13, 2013
  Thirty-five years ago in United States v. Choate, the courts ruled that the Postal Service may record “mail cover,” i.e., what’s written on the outside of an envelope — the addresses of sender and receiver. Read full article >>     […]
  Charles Krauthammer
• Message from the ruins of Qusair June 6, 2013
  On Wednesday, Qusair fell to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. Qusair is a strategic town that connects Damascus with Assad’s Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean, with its ports and Russian naval base. It’s a major strategic shift. Assad’s forces can now advance on rebel-dominated areas in central and northern Syria, including Aleppo. Read full article […]
  Charles Krauthammer
• Obama’s Dorothy Doctrine May 30, 2013
  “This war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises . . .” — Barack Obama, May 23 Nice thought. But much as Obama would like to close his eyes, click his heels three times and declare the war on terror over, war is a two-way street. Read full article >>     […]
  Charles Krauthammer
• There’s a fly in my soup May 23, 2013
  “Horrible customer service.” That’s what the newly fired IRS commissioner averred was the agency’s only sin in singling out conservative political groups for discriminatory treatment. In such grim proceedings one should be grateful for unintended humor. Horrible customer service is when every patron in a restaurant finds a fly in his soup. But when the maitr […]
  Charles Krauthammer
• Redacted truth, subjunctive outrage May 16, 2013
  Note to GOP re Benghazi: Stop calling it Watergate, Iran-contra, bigger than both, etc. First, it might well be, but we don’t know. History will judge. Second, overhyping will only diminish the importance of the scandal if it doesn’t meet presidency-breaking standards. Third, focusing on the political effects simply plays into the hands of Democrats desperat […]
  Charles Krauthammer
• Pink line over Damascus May 9, 2013
  You know you’re in trouble when you can’t even get your walk-back story straight. Stung by the worldwide derision that met President Obama’s fudging and fumbling of his chemical-weapons red line in Syria, the White House leaked to the New York Times that Obama’s initial statement had been unprepared, unscripted and therefore unserious. Read full article > […]
  Charles Krauthammer
• Obama: The fall May 2, 2013
  Fate is fickle, power cyclical, and nothing is new under the sun. Especially in Washington, where after every election the losing party is sagely instructed to confess sin, rend garments and rethink its principles lest it go the way of the Whigs. And where the victor is hailed as the new Caesar, facing an open road to domination. Read full article >>   […]
  Charles Krauthammer
• The Bush legacy April 25, 2013
  Clare Boothe Luce liked to say that “a great man is one sentence.” Presidents, in particular. The most common “one sentence” for George W. Bush is: “He kept us safe.” Not quite right. With Bush’s legacy being reassessed as his presidential library opens in Dallas, it’s important to note that he did not just keep us safe. He created the entire anti-terror inf […]
  Charles Krauthammer
• The language of terror April 18, 2013
  Terrorism is speech — speech that gathers its audience by killing innocents as theatrically as possible. The 19th-century anarchist Paul Brousse called it “propaganda by deed.” Accordingly, the Boston Marathon attack, the first successful terror bombing in the United States since 9/11, was designed for maximum effect. At the finish line there would be not on […]
  Charles Krauthammer
• The Obama budget and the appearance of reform April 11, 2013
  Well, at least we’re starting to get the procedure right. Washington has rediscovered the beauty of the boring. It’s called “regular order,” using the normal, routine, constitutional process to arrive at, for example, a budget. Read full article >>     […]
  Charles Krauthammer