Norman Solomon

The Mythical End to the Politics of Fear

Nearly five years into the "war on terror," it's still at the core of American media and politics.

    Yeah, I've seen the recent polls showing a drop in public support for President Bush's "war on terror" claims. And I've read a spate of commentaries this month celebrating Bush's current lack of political traction on the terrorism issue, like the New York Times piece by Frank Rich last Sunday triumphantly proclaiming that "the era of Americans' fearing fear itself is over."

    That's a comforting thought, hovering somewhere between complacent and delusional.

    Reflexive fear may be on vacation, but it hasn't quit. The "war on terror" motif is fraying - but it remains close at hand as a mighty pretext for present and future warfare...

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Who's Afraid of Hillary Clinton?

The leading pro-war Democrat in the Senate is hoping for a landslide in the New York primary next month. And unless progressives quickly mobilize to dent her vote total, she's likely to get it.

Hillary Clinton, of course, intends to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008. But first there's her quest to win big for reelection. If antiwar voters cut into Clinton's percentage in the primary on Sept. 12, despite overwhelming media visibility and a massive campaign war chest, her momentum would take a hit.

After Sen. Joe Lieberman lost to antiwar challenger Ned Lamont in Connecticut's Democratic primary last week, I thought some more about the fast-approaching Senate race in New York, where anti-war candidate Jonathan Tasini (www.tasinifornewyork.org) will be on the ballot next to Clinton...

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Media Matters with Robert McChesney

Norman Solomon was the guest on the August 13th broadcast of Media Matters with Robert McChesney (streaming audio and mp3 are online).

News Media's Love-Hate for Nuclear Weapons

Since the Soviet Union collapsed a decade and a half ago, nuclear weaponry has been mostly relegated to back pages and mental back burners in the United States. A big media uproar about nuclear weapons is apt to happen only when the man in the Oval Office has chosen to make an issue of them.

Sometimes a "nuclear threat" has been imaginary. During the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration went into rhetorical overdrive -- fabricating evidence and warning that an ostensible smoking gun could turn into a mushroom cloud. The White House publicly obsessed about an Iraqi nuclear-weapons program that didn't exist.

In sharp contrast, North Korea really seems to have a nuclear warhead or two. And because the Pyongyang regime is apparently nuclear-armed, Bush isn't likely to order an attack on that country, as he did against Iraq and as he has been not-too-subtly threatening to do against Iran.

By all credible accounts, Tehran is at least several years -- and probably more like a full decade -- away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. But America's top officials and leading pundits have been sounding urgent alarms...

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Norman Solomon on Counterspin

"The wars in Lebanon and Gaza rage on. As usual, civilians bear the brunt of the destruction, nowhere more so than in Lebanon, where reports suggest hundreds are dead and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. Columnist Norman Solomon will join us to share his thoughts about the war we're seeing—and not seeing—here."

Listen to the interview (real audio or download an mp3).