Neta Crawford is a professor of political science in Boston University’s College of Arts & Sciences. She is the co-author of a recent study on the costs of the Iraq & Afghanistan wars. In a BU Today Q&A, Professor Crawford talks about how “The Costs of War” study came about and the estimated $4 trillion price tag for these wars. She also talks about the civilian toll of both wars.
“I wrote the sections about civilian killings, and what I wanted to do is describe how it is that people not only die when they’re bombed, but they die because infrastructure is destroyed or because they can’t get health care or vaccinations as a result of that destruction. In political science we call this structural violence. There’s been some effort to quantify this, but you need much more detailed work on conditions prior to war, especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of the things I was trying to get across was that when the fighting stops, the dying continues, and the dying is this indirect debt. Also, when you kill innocent civilians, it creates resistance and promotes insurgency, fueling a semicovert war.”
President Obama held the first Twitter Town Hall at the White House today. As part of our Campaign 2012 series, we asked John Carroll, an assistant professor of mass communication at Boston University's College of Communication, to give his analysis on the use of social media by the candidates in the 2012 campaign.
Casey Anthony, was found not guilty of killing her two-year old daughter Caylee Marie Anthony. After six weeks of testimony, an Orlando jury of five men and seven women did find Anthony guilty of giving false information to police. Boston University School of Law professor David Rossman, the director of the school's Criminal Law Clinicial Programs, is available to offer expert commentary and analysis on the verdict. He can be contacted at 617-353-5011, drossman@bu.edu.
Fourth of July is right around the corner and that means the summer grilling and picnic season is in full swing. While having fun is certainly the top priority at all the upcoming barbecues and outdoor parties, nothing can ruin a good time like an outbreak of food poisoning.
In the videos below, Boston University Clinical Associate Professor of Nutrition Joan Salge Blake offers simple food-handling tips to help reduce the risk of foodborne illness at that next big holiday cook out.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today named Christine Lagarde as its new chief. Boston University School of Law Professor Cornelius Hurley, director of the BU Center for Finance, Law & Policy and former counsel to the Fed Board of Governors, offers the following comment:
“With Lagarde taking over the helm of the IMF, the global financial system finally has a spokesperson with the intelligence and the communications skills to articulate the grave threats facing us. It could not have taken place at a more opportune time.
“To date, ideologues in the U.S. and Europe have waged their sophomoric battles -- witness the Greek and U.S. debt crises -- without adult supervision. I believe Ms. Lagarde is up to the task.”
Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann officially threw her hat in the ring today when she announced her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. The following Boston University experts are available for comment:
Tom Whalen, an associate professor of Social Sciences; an expert on modern American politics and the American presidency; a regular contributor to PoliticoArena. He can be reached at 617-353-4785; tjw64@bu.edu.
Tom Whalen is an associate professor in Social Sciences at Boston University and an expert on the American presidency. A regular contributor to PoliticoArena, he offers the following response to their question on whether Al Gore is right in attacking President Obama for failing to take "bold action" on climate change.
Confirmation hearings begin today for General David Petraeus to replace Leon Panetta as the next director of the CIA. The following Boston University professors are available to offer expert commentary:
In this installment of our occasional series "Campaign 2012," we asked our experts to speculate on who might be potential GOP vice presidential candidates. The experts are Tom Fiedler, Tom Whalen, Tobe Berkovitz, and Cornelius Hurley.
